Barnes & Noble destined to go the way of Borders?

[marmar]

Barnes & Noble Inc. stock closed down a startling 27.7% on Wednesday, after the company posted a loss at its core books business and the education unit that was spun out as a separate listed company after the quarter end.

Shares ended the day at $11.80, their lowest level since.May 23, 2014. It was their second-biggest point and percentage decline, after a steep selloff on Nov. 8, 2001.

The company reported a loss of $34.9 million, or 68 cents a share, for the quarter, versus a loss of $28.5 million, or 56 cents a share, for the same period last year. Revenue declined 1.5% to $1.22 billion. The FactSet consensus was for earnings of 20 cents a share and revenue of $1.2 billion. .....................(more)

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/barnes-noble-shares-crater-as-loss-widens-2015-09-09?dist=beforebell

[yeoman6987]

1. I used to go to Barnes and noble every Saturday

To browse, have a coffee and buy a few books and magazines. The last two years, I have gone maybe twice and once was at Christmas. With Amazon and reading on the nook. There isn't any reason to anymore. I am sure they will have to remarket itself it they want to survive. But book stores are in a tough spot.

[el_bryanto]

2. I love and I hate my Kindle

On the one hand I used to love going to a bookstore and browsing around; that's still the best way to find something you might like. And the idea of a world without bookstores is depressing to me (I feel the same way about CD/Record stores).

On the other hand since purchasing a Kindle I am reading more and reading better; I live in an apartment, and I don't have the space to store all the books I might want to read. The prices has come down on a lot of those books as well, making it more attractive, particularly on non-fiction books.

So I'm conflicted.

Bryant

[The2ndWheel]

9. Doesn't sound too conflicted

We all eventually do what's easier and cheaper. A lion will go after the closest and/or slowest zebra, not the faster one way out of the way. If we don't do that by choice, we sort of get forced into it by circumstance, and then try and find the easiest and cheapest way within those confines.

[marmar]

10. I prefer old-fashioned books; I spend all day looking at digital text.....

..... when I'm reading for pleasure I like the sight, sound and fresh-pages smell of a book.

[Miles Archer]

20. I have Kindle software on my laptop and I also love / hate it.

Used to love highlighting tangible books (I read primarily non-fiction).

Can't argue with the portability of laptop-based books, and you CAN highlight them (without having to actually puchase highlighters).

PLUS you can read laptop books in a dark room.

All in all, I've crossed over to the dark side, if using a Kindle as a primary source of books can be considered the dark side.

I do miss paper books every now and then, though.

[femmocrat]

3. That is the only book store left here.

We don't have any independents.

[Javaman]

12. No half-price books in your area? nt

[femmocrat]

18. No... just a B & N.

We used to have Borders, but they are long gone. I mostly go to B & N for children's books and educational toys for gifts. I ask for books for birthday and Christmas gifts and trade with family members, so I'm pretty well stocked right now.

[Javaman]

21. dang, that's a shame.

maybe B & N will hold out. :/

[Orrex]

4. Uh oh! Where will people buy their pastries and LEGO sets?

[n2doc]

5. The non-chain booksellers rock, but are rare

If you don't live in a big city or a college town, you probably only have a B and N to buy books. People have lost the art of book browsing. It is a great pleasure to go into a store and find new authors by browsing physical books.

[MBS]

6. Agreed!

One of my greatest pleasures.
I also went to a delightful book-reading this past weekend at my local independent bookstore. The event- including the author's extraordinarily personal approach to book-signing - made my weekend, and has kept my mood buoyed ( in an otherwise very stressful time) for the entire workweek.

I order stuff from Amazon, too (I'm ashamed to say), but only physical bookstores offer the opportunities of discovery and serendipity through book-browsing , and personal encounters with authors and fellow booklovers.

[CBGLuthier]

7. I embrace change. I find it fascinating to observe.

video stores were cool too.

[Nitram]

8. Short answer: "yes"

Here in Charlottesville, VA we've got one very good independent book seller and two excellent used book stores.

[dumbcat]

11. I view my B&N store as a Starbuck's with a nice reading room

My nearest B&N is about 20 miles away, but I used to go there at least once a week to get a Starbuck's latte, a scone, and read some magazines. Years ago I even bought a few books and magazines there, but in the last four years or so I don't think I have bought any. I browse the books and if I see something interesting I will get i from Amazon for my Kindle.

I don't see B&N surviving, and it is due to people like me. I'll miss it, but not enough to matter. Such is life.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

13. I like real paper books.

I don't read books on my smartphone.

I live 100 miles from the nearest B&N so it is a luxury for me to go there and buy real books. But then, I started reading books when Eisenhower was president and I was barely potty-trained, so I love it. I hate the fact that type has gotten smaller and smaller. I am incredibly nearsighted and it is a strain for me to read the tiny instructions on food boxes for example.

[Johonny]

14. Without real book stores I wonder which authors win?

Needless to say I personally tend to "find" more books by browsing in a bookstore than by surfing online. On the other hand I know independent authors can't even break a "real" book into these bookstores to find an audience. So who is the likely winner? My guess we already know. The known pushers of book sales (I think James Patterson will stick his name on just about anything with words in it) seem to be winning while everyone else is losing. Book selling is a celebrity contest now... it will likely get worse.

[KamaAina]

15. Someone's gonna have to talk Republican Stepdad down off the ledge

B&N is a mandatory stop every time he goes to the weekend place on the Jersey Shore. Yes, at least one repuke reads; not surprisingly, though, his preferred genre is military history.

[MisterP]

16. well I do know that they have real execs unlike Borders did!

so the issues are 1. cash flow and 2. resiliency--spinning off the lucrative Nook is probably very bad for both, but cash flow can make one invincible to stock collapse

what brick and mortar offers is workers who know literature inside and out, who've read the *words* (and not just a computer program that tracks "who else" people who like author N bought), recruiting music lovers and readers and lit-crit fans who'll work mostly for love of the importance of words for all ages

Borders cut its throat with no internet presence, decades-long land leases, overextension with new stores--heck, with customers who just waited for a 40% coupon, prompting a cycle of desperation where customers would come in only with a cutthroat coupon; by 2011 Borders was such a mess there were no buyers under any conditions (though it was actually pretty close)

management preferred gimmicks like having *every* customer get pushed one book in order to "make a bestseller" so publishers would treat it better instead of just suggesting off the shelf to drive overall sales, or having the rewards card *pitched* 100% of the time, off a script, rather than a few 3-second blurbs ("it's free, dammit&quot

BN's a bit ... snootier, centered on the cafe culture

[Are_grits_groceries]

17. I worked for both.

BN will eventually die.
Borders was good when I first got there in the first wave of expansion. I helped open a store. You had a group of knowledgeable booksellers and musicsellers who wanted to help and to push items they loved. You learned a lot about different areas and generally enjoyed the experience.
Then Borders got eaten by an executive who thought it should be run like a grocery store. Items in and out with the emphasis on turn. You have to turn the goods but you can't when you run off the best workers and offer no real assistance.

BN lost its way with the Nook and not knowing what to do with it. They also became eaten by that damn rewards card. They also cut hours to save and barely staffed the stores. They have people in charge ho are clueless too. Their management is clueless too.

The whole publishing/bookseller world is at sea with the digital revolution and ebooks in the mix. They haven't figured out how to run a bricks and mortar business with that as part of the equation. Somebody will but I don't know when.

[olddots]

19. the one near me will become the worlds largest corporate coffee ghetto

full of self congraduatory nit wits screened into how modern they are .

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

22. I worked for Waldenbooks, and almost went to Barnes and Noble

I just can't read books on a Nook, Kindle, or iPad, and this saddens me. I enjoy "the art of browsing" as it was called. It's shocking to me my local mall just 20 years ago had TWO bookstores (Waldens and B Dalton) and now has nothing.

Of course, people being illiterate and stupid helps.