Slashdot Mirror
Barnes and Noble Bookstore Chain Put In Play
suraj.sun sends in word that the country's largest bookstore chain, Barnes and Noble, will put itself up for sale. "The news surprised analysts and alarmed publishers, who have watched as the book business has increasingly shifted to online retailers and e-book sales, leaving both chains and independent sellers struggling. ... For years, Barnes & Noble has been battered by large shifts in the publishing industry and the retail environment. Book sales have moved toward big-box stores like Costco, Wal-Mart and Target, and away from mall-based stores like B. Dalton, which Barnes & Noble acquired in the late 1980s. 'There's been a long series of pressures,' said David Schick, managing director at Stifel Nicolaus in Baltimore. 'The market has not been kind to bookstores, and it's for new reasons like competition with Apple and Amazon, and it's for old reasons, like what we believe has been a decline in reading for the last 20 years. Americans have devoted less of what we call media time to books.'"
And, with this shift, we will see the resurgence of the mom and pop bookstore that sells new and used books in a loving environment which was previously squeezed out by the mega chains. And I'm fine with that.
Sadly, we'll also see the resurgence of those bookstores with five cats wandering around the store making the place smell like stale cat urine. I'm less fine with that...
I don't care if it's Jesus's suggested retail price. If it's less than half the cost somewhere else, it's moronic.
Are you trying to say that stores are required to sell at MSRP? They aren't.
irregardless
You're not actually a big reader, are you?
Yeah, but they'll probably derive more enjoyment from the cardboard box the block of wood comes in.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Wait, what? Jesus was born in September in Canada? Awesome!
Um duh... if you'd read the New Testament, you'd know that Jesus is a Canuck. Read Dekey 14:24 for the part where he turns the water into maple syrup, or there's Biffy 20:10 where he drives the money-lenders out of the Temple hockey rink, and then there's my personal favorite - Tuque 9:28 about where they served back bacon and beer at the last supper in Moose Jaw, eh?
Here's to hot beer, cold women, and Glaswegian kisses for all.
Perhaps the publishers should have a deal for the e-books then. Include a free print-out of the e-book. Maybe bind it all together in a tough outer shell and slap an attractive design on the outside. Now there's a perk.