How Should We Feel About Barnes & Noble Now?

When I realized my puerility Barnes & Noble was closing, I was devastated. I’m an indie bookstore lover, but increasing up, determination were nary indie bookstores successful my town: lone 1 gorgeous, cozy Barnes & Noble. We went to publication clubs determination arsenic kids, met determination arsenic teens fundamentally each Friday night, studied for the SATs there, got java determination to drawback up implicit summers location from college. It held tons of concentrated memories.

The bully quality was that it was simply moving, not closing for good. It would person a caller determination and beryllium 1 of the archetypal “new Barnes & Noble stores” utilizing their caller layout, approach, and model. But was that bully news?

Let’s backmost up. Years ago, determination was a propulsion to enactment indies implicit mega chains, but successful caller years, Amazon’s menace has changed the communicative somewhat, starring galore publication lovers (me included) to admit that Barnes & Noble, arsenic 1 of the fewer remaining brick-and-mortar chains, is inactive a preferable enactment implicit Amazon. They’ve made immoderate headway implicit the past mates years arsenic they erstwhile again rotation to becoming the “hero” of the story, the big-box store that outlasted and survived Amazon, proving our emotion of carnal locations and carnal books contempt the odds.

However, their caller attempts to rejuvenate their stores are a mode to due the lukewarm coziness and spot we person successful an indie bookstore portion taking distant the mechanics of an indie connected the backmost end. The maze-like layout is meant to beryllium a “curated, cozy, and welcoming abstraction for communities to work, work and browse.” But portion branding and caller layouts whitethorn look innocent, anyone who has worked successful the concern satellite knows that it’s often much analyzable than it appears.

After Barnes & Noble was sold to a hedge money successful 2019, owners Elliott Advisors brought successful James Daunt, the main enforcement of UK concatenation Waterstones (owned by the aforesaid company, I should add). His strategy for redeeming Barnes & Noble included giving section stores much individualized flexibility to take what they merchantability based connected section demand, moving distant from the gifts and toys section, moving locations into smaller carnal spaces, and redesigning the stores.

It’s not a coincidence that Barnes & Noble sought to seizure thing of what the indies were bringing to the table. Over the pandemic, books boomed, but truthful did a definite nostalgia for carnal spaces and for wandering and browsing in-person. Indie bookstores benefited from this, and caller ones person been popping up each implicit the state implicit the past fewer years. Barnes & Noble wants to instrumentality vantage of this moment.

But each moments aren’t created equal. As Jenn Northington unpacked successful her portion successful 2022, determination was a 12.4% driblet successful hardcover income from 2021 to 2022. And successful 2022, Twitter buzzed with the realization that Barnes & Noble’s caller argumentation seemed to beryllium to banal lone hardcovers that had “proven sales” records, making it harder for debut authors, “genre” authors, and authors traditionally neglected by the manufacture (people of color, queer and trans authors, disabled authors, etc.) to beryllium discovered.

Barnes & Noble is trying to seizure the wonderment of wandering your section indie bookstore, portion simultaneously narrowing however overmuch you could perchance discover. It wants you to deliberation that it’s arsenic idiosyncratic and section arsenic your autarkic bookstore would be, portion showing you the aforesaid 5 books you’ve already seen blasted each implicit BookTok. They’ll proceed to get that bully bestseller wealth portion convincing radical that they’re successful a assemblage space.

They precocious changed their rank model and successful the process, softly ended their Educator Program. This gave teachers 20% disconnected books, toys, and games for schoolroom use. When they sunsetted the program, they suggested these teachers conscionable motion up for their caller rank program, which costs $40 a twelvemonth and gives 10% off.

The accusation is obvious. Barnes & Noble is trying to amended their bottommost line. Which is fine: a bookstore is simply a business, and a concatenation needs to marque wealth to support stores open. What I don’t similar is that they are softly prioritizing profits successful ways that wounded the goals of the literate assemblage portion besides pushing this imaginativeness of Barnes & Noble arsenic your section indie that supports your assemblage and is simply a haven for readers. They are putting connected the costume and connection of a beauteous vicinity autarkic bookstore, but their interior mechanics are inactive each big-box concatenation corporation. They’re trying to disguise their profit-driven firm decisions down beauteous warm-lit curtains.

I precocious walked done my section Barnes & Noble, moved and changed arsenic it is. For each of its changes, it felt someway colder than the old, somewhat outdated wood and greenish carpeting. The subject fabrication and phantasy conception had the astir fashionable authors, and thing I hadn’t yet heard astir laic connected the show tables. There were 2 gigantic shelves afloat of books and merch from a 2000s phantasy bid successful the YA section. It was amazingly hard to find anything.

In caller years, I’ve made definite to bargain thing from my section store, to support it going. It was my section bookstore aft all, and I wanted it to stay. Now, there’s nary need. Even if I could find thing I wanted (which I really struggled to do), I’m redeeming my wealth for my section indies backmost successful Chicago.

I’m backmost to feeling similar supporting Barnes & Noble is nary antithetic from supporting those silly Amazon Books ceramic and mortars. It’s a beauteous store to browse, if you aren’t really looking for thing caller to read. It’s a section bookstore acceptable with nary substance — the dedication to the assemblage isn’t there, the extent of publication enactment isn’t there, the find is conscionable based successful the bestseller lists. Some radical don’t person a prime astir wherever to browse, and increasing up, I was 1 of them. I’m gladsome that I grew up successful the property of a antithetic benignant of Barnes & Noble, and americium disappointed successful what they’re becoming.

For much connected the caller Barnes & Noble, cheque retired caller stories from Jenn Northington connected the inheritance of the chain’s changes, and from Kelly Jensen connected the rank programme overhaul.