Barnes and Noble Trying to Boost Sales

fureverywhere

fureverywhere

beloved friend who will always be with us in spiri
Location
Northern NJ, USA
Apparently the market is slumping for Barnes and Noble. A new idea is to add wine and beer to the coffee area. I think it sounds lovely. Then they could offer a mixed cheese and cracker plate. As an avid reader B and N is paradise for me. You're free to carry a pile of books to a table and spend hours. But I do understand why they're struggling. With the techno age I'm sure the number of readers has dropped drastically. For us seniors...you might look at ten books and buy two...$25 and up for a new hardcover...yeeesh. I shop through their booksellers online. I don't mind if a title is used if it's a fraction of the cover price. Shopping used you can get seven titles for the price of two new.
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/barnes-noble-comeback-plan-alcohol-201141759.html
 

I bought college books through them over 16 years ago. College books cost a lot!! It would be nothing for them to charge 60.00 for a book.
 
fureverywhere said:
Apparently the market is slumping for Barnes and Noble. A new idea is to add wine and beer to the coffee area. I think it sounds lovely. Then they could offer a mixed cheese and cracker plate. As an avid reader B and N is paradise for me. You're free to carry a pile of books to a table and spend hours. But I do understand why they're struggling. With the techno age I'm sure the number of readers has dropped drastically. For us seniors...you might look at ten books and buy two...$25 and up for a new hardcover...yeeesh. I shop through their booksellers online. I don't mind if a title is used if it's a fraction of the cover price. Shopping used you can get seven titles for the price of two new.
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/barnes-noble-comeback-plan-alcohol-201141759.html
Click to expand...

The digital age is wrecking havoc on brick and mortar booksellers. Hastings has filed for bankruptcy. B&N having trouble. There is almost nothing you want to read that can't be downloaded to an e-reader for a fraction of the cost of purchasing the book. The other poster mentioned textbooks. We have a state university in our community. The local bookstore that has been the stalwart of textbook sales since the 1920's is closing this month. No one buys textbooks anymore. They download them on line. It's a rapidly changing arena, due to technology. My wife reads almost everything, today, on her e-reader. Myself... I still make a couple trips/week to the local library, refusing to give in yet to the new techno-readers.
 

I still read a lot of books -- the e-reader thing just doesn't seem the same to me.

BUT, I haven't bought a NEW book in years. I get mine at used book places, book trade places, etc., and then take 'em back and get different ones. Most of what I read is stuff I just want to read once, not necessarily keep, so it's silly for me to pay new book prices. Even paperbacks are ridiculously expensive today.
 
It is a shame but I love my Kindle. I have it hooked to our local library and can read just about any book I want even magazines. I love the option of changing the font size and I can dim the light for night reading to a blue shade which is suppose to not interfere with sleeping. I'm not sure if that has been proven but I do use it.
 
The only time I buy books from a bookstore is when someone gives me a gift certificate. Otherwise, I get them from the library or buy them from the library bookstore, where they run between 25 cents to a dollar or two. Garage sales are good, too.

I once had at least a thousand books in my house. There were bookshelves in every room of the house, including the bathroom. When we moved to Florida, I had no choice but to sell them. I put aside about a hundred that I couldn't get rid of and then had a dealer come in and give me a price for the rest as a package deal.

Now I'm down to one bookshelf in the house of my favorites.....the ones I read again regularly. I have about a hundred paperbacks in the RV that I'm working my way through; I leave them in the book swaps in the RV parks when I'm done.

I've mostly lost the desire and/or need to "own" books and am happy getting them from the library. When a new best-seller comes out, I just put it on reserve at the library and wait until it's my turn.

Although I have a Kindle, I just don't like it. I'm a bit of a Luddite......I like the feel of a book in my hand.
 
Hmmm, maybe I better redeem my BN gift card. ;) I would love to go the e-reader route, but I guess I expect the digital version of a book to be less expensive, but that does not seem to be the case.
 
They closed my favorite B & N bookstore in downtown Denver. :( I really loved that store... there was a Starbucks in it...you could buy a coffee and sit and read any of their books... Laptops or Tablets will NEVER replace that!
 
E-books don't have pages. You can't smell an e-book. You can't feel the pages under your fingers. You can't mark a page and turn back to it when something on it is referenced later. You can't make margin notes (if it's your own book!).

Don't your eyes start to hurt after an hour or so of looking at an e-book screen? Doesn't your head start to ache?

You can't buy an e-book in a fine binding, with hand-tinted illustrations (I can't afford real books made like this, but I can love them and enjoy handling them in a Special Collections department or a friend's home.)

This past year I bought a Bible for a friend. I eschewed the modern versions in paperback and the new editions of traditional versions bound in real but ugly leather ("lizard"-textured pink; hot turquoise, purple-and-gold). I bought one bound in bonded leather, with the words of Christ in red, the pages edged in gold, gold edging the inner binding, a satin ribbon bookmark, and my friend's name engraved in gold. You can't do that to an e-book. I liked my friend's so much I went back to the store and bought one for myself.

A book is more than "just" its words. Even a paperback has substance, and a scent, and texture. And when you buy a book secondhand, you may get the bonus of its previous owner's notes, dog-ears, and underlinings.

You can't get those in an e-book.
 
jujube said:
The only time I buy books from a bookstore is when someone gives me a gift certificate. Otherwise, I get them from the library or buy them from the library bookstore, where they run between 25 cents to a dollar or two. Garage sales are good, too.

I once had at least a thousand books in my house. There were bookshelves in every room of the house, including the bathroom. When we moved to Florida, I had no choice but to sell them. I put aside about a hundred that I couldn't get rid of and then had a dealer come in and give me a price for the rest as a package deal.

Now I'm down to one bookshelf in the house of my favorites.....the ones I read again regularly. I have about a hundred paperbacks in the RV that I'm working my way through; I leave them in the book swaps in the RV parks when I'm done.

I've mostly lost the desire and/or need to "own" books and am happy getting them from the library. When a new best-seller comes out, I just put it on reserve at the library and wait until it's my turn.

Although I have a Kindle, I just don't like it. I'm a bit of a Luddite......I like the feel of a book in my hand.
Click to expand...

I like the feel of a book, too.
 
I still read a lot of books -- the e-reader thing just doesn't seem the same to me.

BUT, I haven't bought a NEW book in years. I get mine at used book places, book trade places, etc., and then take 'em back and get different ones. Most of what I read is stuff I just want to read once, not necessarily keep, so it's silly for me to pay new book prices. Even paperbacks are ridiculously expensive today.
Exactly, I weeded my books awhile back...of course with still more than maybe 200 titles it's an ongoing process. I'll pick a few off the shelf and read them then either...
Nope I won't pick this up again and it goes to library resale
The information is so out of date it goes in the recycle bin
This I would take to a desert island KEEP

E-books don't have pages. You can't smell an e-book. You can't feel the pages under your fingers. You can't mark a page and turn back to it when something on it is referenced later. You can't make margin notes (if it's your own book!).

Don't your eyes start to hurt after an hour or so of looking at an e-book screen? Doesn't your head start to ache?

You can't buy an e-book in a fine binding, with hand-tinted illustrations (I can't afford real books made like this, but I can love them and enjoy handling them in a Special Collections department or a friend's home.)

This past year I bought a Bible for a friend. I eschewed the modern versions in paperback and the new editions of traditional versions bound in real but ugly leather ("lizard"-textured pink; hot turquoise, purple-and-gold). I bought one bound in bonded leather, with the words of Christ in red, the pages edged in gold, gold edging the inner binding, a satin ribbon bookmark, and my friend's name engraved in gold. You can't do that to an e-book. I liked my friend's so much I went back to the store and bought one for myself.

A book is more than "just" its words. Even a paperback has substance, and a scent, and texture. And when you buy a book secondhand, you may get the bonus of its previous owner's notes, dog-ears, and underlinings.

You can't get those in an e-book.

I totally agree, I mean if you like ebooks that's fine of course. But just the feel and smell of a real live book. That does bug me with used books...dog ears and highlighting. Those books unless they are textbooks and even then...your notes and reference points might not be someone else's.
 
Love bookstores, used to go into B&N all the time, but the cost of books stopped me from going and buying as much. Tried the e-readers, but just couldn't get into them. I am now a member of our local library. May be awhile before I read that new release, but the price couldn't be better.
 
Guitarist said:
E-books don't have pages. You can't smell an e-book. You can't feel the pages under your fingers. You can't mark a page and turn back to it when something on it is referenced later. You can't make margin notes (if it's your own book!).

Don't your eyes start to hurt after an hour or so of looking at an e-book screen? Doesn't your head start to ache?

You can't buy an e-book in a fine binding, with hand-tinted illustrations (I can't afford real books made like this, but I can love them and enjoy handling them in a Special Collections department or a friend's home.)

This past year I bought a Bible for a friend. I eschewed the modern versions in paperback and the new editions of traditional versions bound in real but ugly leather ("lizard"-textured pink; hot turquoise, purple-and-gold). I bought one bound in bonded leather, with the words of Christ in red, the pages edged in gold, gold edging the inner binding, a satin ribbon bookmark, and my friend's name engraved in gold. You can't do that to an e-book. I liked my friend's so much I went back to the store and bought one for myself.



I totally agree! I get my books from libraries because I usually do not want to own it. I already have hundreds of books.

If the print book was just invented now, everyone would marvel how great it is and how it is better than an ebook.
People want the ebook because it is new technology and cheaper
Click to expand...
 
I might have visited a Barnes and Noble when I lived in Maine. Isn't it funny that it's hard to remember for sure?! The store was in a small mall in Lewiston. This was before the days of ereaders. That particular location went through several changes. Different book stores showed up. I think I went into the Barnes and Noble around 2003. As I entered the store, my shoes set off their anti-theft alarm. That is rather weird. Going into the store rather than leaving it?! They looked me over, looked inside my bag, and found no books. We had a discussion over who "was at fault" for setting off the alarm. I thought their attitude was rather negative and likely never visited the store again before it was replaced by another book store.

Honestly, I thought Barnes and Noble died years ago. We don't have one anywhere near where I live in MN.
 
Our B&N has lots of gift items and a huge toy section. I read books on my Kindle now, and borrow regular and Kindle books from the library. I buy hardcovers only when I plan to use them a lot for reference -- dog training books and cookbooks mostly. I buy used if possible, and always from Amazon because the prices are cheaper.

Our small town library doesn't have a good selection of e-books, so I joined the Philadelphia Free Library. It is free for people who live in PA, and a yearly membership for those who live in other states is $50 (you can apply online and pay with a debit or credit card). I like it because they have a large selection of e-books. I read about it on the Kindle forums on Amazon. Apparently a lot of people from out of state who don't have access to a robust e-book library join that one.
 
I have an e reader but much prefer to read a book. We have two libraries here at the residence.
Mind you the books are donated and not always recent ones. Once or twice a year I go on Amazon
and buy authors that I like.
 

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