Barnes & Noble searches for a plan

They can't blame me for any decline.

I practically live there. Books, magazines, coffees, even random Sailor Moon trinkets and the occasional DVD when I don't feel like trekking to Best Buy. But the one comment that was in this link when I first read this is correct - if they really want to do things to boost up sales, they shouldn't be looking to create a cookie cutter store that merely offers 'units'. They need to allow each store the ability to breathe and have a more local flavor rather than same-old-same-old corporate-level design. I swear, half the time those in the corporate levels have no idea how to do anything at the ground level. They just read or hear about something and try to apply that to their crap regardless of whether it would actually fit or not. They sell books, not boxes.

i don't buy books so all of them can suck it. Borders died because of people like me and we're proud of being lazy

we have a small used book store near here. i go into there every once in a while because the cashier is a qt3.14. otherwise it's a pretty small place

It isn't surprising really. B&N suffers from a lack of identity in the marketplace. If someone wants an e-book, they just use their phone or tablet, the idea of a nook as a go to mobile reading device never really took off. They drastically cut the range of titles available in their stores, the B&N in my town primarily exists to sell knock-off Starbucks and ISU merchandise. I went in to find a copy of Tiassa and got a vacant look and an offer for a vanilla frappe machiato dulche mocha latte for ten bucks.

Sounds like there is a new plan in place to address the issues, and B&N is lucky in that they have no large competitors, so there is a bit of room for them to fall and still recover. Hopefully things will shift for the better, until then there is always Amazon.

Also, read more Steven Brust.....

Mine actually does continue to have a table specifically set aside for books written by people in the area and / or that are about North Dakota and Minnesota specifically. It's usually located near the help desk and by the shelves set aside to showcase books the staff members recommend. And occasionally the authors themselves are floating around. I'm hoping that any so-called 'improvements' pushed by higher-ups doesn't skunk such allowances. Local flavors to bookstores can contribute greatly to travelers stopping in for a possible purchase rather than just waiting until they get to their own bookstore at home.

i worked there for more than a decade and still have many good friends in the company. i really hope they figure it out. 

but i'm also glad i'm out...

Local flavor would definitely help. My Barnes and Noble doesn't have much in the way of local stuff except a few books on Hershey and chocolate, so it would be nice to see more devoted to local authors and the like.