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Barnes & Noble Set To Be Sold To Elliott Management For About $683M

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Re: Barnes & Noble Set To Be Sold To Elliott Management For About $683M

#121

Post by Marsymars »

jimmaswell wrote: post #117
legitster wrote: post #15

So, before we doom and gloom about B&N, it's important to remember that independent bookstores are doing great! https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/why-independent-bookstores-haved-... So why is Barnes and Nobles struggling? A couple of important points: Their inventory and footprint IS HUGE. Large inventory with low turnover is a margin-killer in retail. And I doubt they make much money off the books in their shelves - real…

In the long run, most book stores are doomed. There's no way around it no matter how nostalgic some are for physical books - the medium is an obsolete novelty with the advent of smartphones/tablets. Some book stores will remain but it'll be a niche thing like vinyl records and horseback riding.

I don't know anyone who reads significant numbers of books on smartphone/tablets. It's either print books, ebooks, or audiobooks. And looking at print book sales over the last decade, there hasn't been a consistent downwards trend.

Personally, I like to buy print books because I can give them away to friends or family after I read them. I also get a lot of print books from my local library, because there's nearly always less of a wait than for ebooks, due to the obnoxious DRM/copyright terms that ebooks for libraries entail.

Re: Barnes & Noble Set To Be Sold To Elliott Management For About $683M

#122

Post by kabdib »

drewg123 wrote: post #101
kabdib wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They stopped having a "new releases" part of their main sections, so if I want to find a new release in SF/Fantasy it means having to look at all the books in that section. Granted, that section is a lot smaller now, with books front-cover-out, as you say. But it's still kind of a sucky move for steady customers. I used to visit the local B&N every week. Now it's down to every few months, when I know exactly what I w…

I had the same experience. One of the main reasons I went to B&N was to look at the new books. Now that they are hidden, there is little point to going in there. I asked a manager about it, and they told me it was a corporate directive.

Borders did the same re-arrangement about a year before they went under. There used to be a half-bookshelf or so of "released this week" titles where any regular customer could walk in and immediately see and grab a new book by a favorite author, or maybe a new book by an unfamiliar author. Nope, you had to search the whole section.

I really wonder if these corporate directives are made by people who like bookstores, or read.

Re: Barnes & Noble Set To Be Sold To Elliott Management For About $683M

#123

Post by Marsymars »

clarityPhone wrote: post #43
abdullahkhalids wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's confusing? Shipping a book from a warehouse is cheaper and maintaining a website is cheaper than setting up and selling from a physical store. If I order a book online, I don't want to subsidize the walk in customers.

I can’t think of any other retailer that does this. Best Buy, Walmart, Famous Footwear, Bed Bath and Beyond, etc. all honor the same prices in person as they do online.

On top of the stores others have mentioned, Costco seems to have randomly different prices between their physical stores and their online store. (With the physical store more frequently being the cheaper price.)

Re: Barnes & Noble Set To Be Sold To Elliott Management For About $683M

#125

Post by raleigh_user »

My #1 bone to pick with Barnes and Noble was they wouldn’t price match their online price in store.

There is a local store near me and probably once a month I want a new book. I want the new book that day so I look online (Amazon, Barnes and Nobel, borders, etc) and determine Barnes and Noble is only a dollar or two more than Amazon. Fine because I want to read now.

Turns out, that was their online only price. If you want the book in their store it costs more.

I’ve avoided buying at least 12 books from them in the last 2-3 months because of it and went with Amazon.

Re: Barnes & Noble Set To Be Sold To Elliott Management For About $683M

#126

Post by thrower123 »

Marsymars wrote: post #121
jimmaswell wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the long run, most book stores are doomed. There's no way around it no matter how nostalgic some are for physical books - the medium is an obsolete novelty with the advent of smartphones/tablets. Some book stores will remain but it'll be a niche thing like vinyl records and horseback riding.

I don't know anyone who reads significant numbers of books on smartphone/tablets. It's either print books, ebooks, or audiobooks. And looking at print book sales over the last decade, there hasn't been a consistent downwards trend. Personally, I like to buy print books because I can give them away to friends or family after I read them. I also get a lot of print books from my local library, because there's nearly alw…

The combination of form-factor and genre makes a huge difference in how I consume books.

For instance, I have no trouble reading most fiction on either my Kindle or my phone - I'm reading through in a linear fashion, and there usually isn't much besides text. I usually don't have to hold every detail in my head, and can just flow along.

If I get into non-fiction, that is usually where I switch over to either print, or failing that, reading on my computer. Sometimes I can get by with my large-format Kindle DX clone, but that can be dicey. With non-fiction, there is usually a lot more paging back and forth; I may be reading a paragraph, and want to go back and double-check a map or table of figures, or re-read a section that I didn't grok the first time. There might also be footnotes or endnotes that one wants to skip to, and the experience isn't great in most reading apps. It's also considerably easier to read non-fiction on a larger screen or a textbook-size physical copy, I find - for instance, any kind of programming book usually has large blocks of code listings, and looking at those on a 27" 1080p monitor or a physical book where I can see the whole thing at full size, on two facing pages, is much easier than on a 5" phone screen.

Re: Barnes & Noble Set To Be Sold To Elliott Management For About $683M

#127

Post by Rapzid »

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #99
legitster wrote: post #15

So, before we doom and gloom about B&N, it's important to remember that independent bookstores are doing great! https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/why-independent-bookstores-haved-... So why is Barnes and Nobles struggling? A couple of important points: Their inventory and footprint IS HUGE. Large inventory with low turnover is a margin-killer in retail. And I doubt they make much money off the books in their shelves - real…

Crazy idea in alternate universe... Turn all Barnes & Nobles into libraries.

The selection is too poor.

Re: Barnes & Noble Set To Be Sold To Elliott Management For About $683M

#128

Post by Rapzid »

mrnobody_67 wrote: post #77

I'm betting they try to flip it to Amazon for $1.8b in 18 months time :)

Amazon really sucks if you are trying to buy a physically nice book these days. I've had to make so many returns this year. Most recently after waiting almost 2 months for my hardcover "On The Origin of Species", it has a box cutter cut on the front cover :S

A physical presence would be great for inspecting and purchasing hardcover if quality matters. Amazon doesn't seem to care much what condition they arrive at your house in.

Re: Barnes & Noble Set To Be Sold To Elliott Management For About $683M

#129

Post by ihuman »

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #99
legitster wrote: post #15

So, before we doom and gloom about B&N, it's important to remember that independent bookstores are doing great! https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/why-independent-bookstores-haved-... So why is Barnes and Nobles struggling? A couple of important points: Their inventory and footprint IS HUGE. Large inventory with low turnover is a margin-killer in retail. And I doubt they make much money off the books in their shelves - real…

Crazy idea in alternate universe... Turn all Barnes & Nobles into libraries.

Or you could just go to your local library in this universe. They still exist.

Re: Barnes & Noble Set To Be Sold To Elliott Management For About $683M

#130

Post by kpozin »

Marsymars wrote: post #123
clarityPhone wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t think of any other retailer that does this. Best Buy, Walmart, Famous Footwear, Bed Bath and Beyond, etc. all honor the same prices in person as they do online.

On top of the stores others have mentioned, Costco seems to have randomly different prices between their physical stores and their online store. (With the physical store more frequently being the cheaper price.)

They strongly imply that the difference is the shipping being included in the online price. In-store displays often say "May be available on costco.com at a shipped price."
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