Bummer. Local Barnes & Noble closing

So I'm in Barnes & Noble today when it slaps me in the face: They have at least half of the merchandise in the store on clearance. Then I notice that probably a third of the shelves in the store are empty. So I ask an employee about it, and she confirms that the store is closing. Not moving to a better location. Closing.

Understand that this is in one of the most affluent and educated counties in the state. There are many on here of a much stronger economic acumen than me, but if the economy is taking this store down, it says to me that the rumors of recovery have been greatly exaggerated.

I've spent many a day there, browsing, sipping coffee and occasionally buying books and magazines. Guess I didn't buy enough.

Bummer.

 

Barnes and Noble became dead to me a few months back. I had gift cards worth about $75, so I went on their Web site and priced out 3-4 books that I was interested in. They have "Member Pricing", apparently you have to buy their member's card to get that price, but on their Web site, the "Member Pricing" was available to all shoppers for a limited time. Some real good deals available.

Anyway ... I like to buy my books in person, browse around, etc., as I always seem to find a couple more to pick up when I'm there. I went to our local B&N to get at least the books I saw online, and the prices were a TON more at the local store than at their Web site. The Willie Mays bio was $30 at the store, and $16 or $18 online, and the other books I was interested in were similarly more expensive. I added it up, and the 4 books I was looking at would have been $34 more to buy at the store. Plus their Web site offered free shipping if you spend a certain amount. After you add in tax, it would have been nearly $40 more for me to buy them at the brick-and-morter store. Yeah, I'll get right on that.

That told me that B&N was interested in me as an online customer, but had little interest in me visiting their store. Fine by me, especially when there's a Border's 3 blocks away ...

 

Hate, one other thing about B&N.

You can't buy an item online and then choose store pickup, instead of the shipping option.


They had Ken Burns' Baseball for $60 online, but it's about $90 if you buy it in store.


I've done the store pickup item at a bunch of other retailers after buying it online. Just seemed odd that B&N doesn't do that.


And like you said, they are one of the few retailers to charge for their member rewards card. Borders is free, as is Best Buy, just to name a couple.

 

B&N did as much to kill the mom and pop book store in this country as anyone.

After they accomplished that feat, they largely said "screw that" to
discounts.

Weep for Borders, who will cut you a break with their couponing.
B&N? Bye, bye.

 

Local man bemoans closing of local Barnes & Noble[/theonion]

 

It's been a steady trickle of established chain restaurants and retail outlets closing here for about two years now. Wouldn't be surprised if I showed up to the local Barnes and Noble in the coming weeks only to find it shuttered.

 

Maybe you can buy the coffee and equipment and sell drinks on the street corner.

 

It's less to do with the economy and more to do with Amazon kicking their asses up and down the street. The economy might have accelerated it, but this was a chain in trouble anyway. To be honest, I would have thought Borders might go rather than B&N, but then I don't have much experience with either. When I need books for gifts (because nothing says "I really don't know what to get you" quite like a book), I use Amazon.

 

Borders is doing worse than B&N, I believe. Borders has been near bankruptcy a couple times and have had to renegotiate loan payments more than once to avoid filing.

Their CEO (which was their third in four years or so) recently left to take a job at A&P supermarket chain.

 

In related news, it has been reported this evening that Movie Gallery will close all of its remaining 2,415 stores.

 

The local Movie Gallery just closed its doors a few weeks ago. I'm really shocked that it lasted as long as it did. Every time I went in the store, which wasn't very often, I was amazed at the poor selection of movies. Also, when I had a roommate with a Nintendo Wii, I rented a game, which cost over $7. That's just not a price that makes me want to do repeat business.

 

This is what I have read as well. I doubt Borders will be around much longer. There's a neat website I found called www.paperbackswap.com. It's basically a free on-line trading of books, with each of you picking up the shipping cost, which is whatever the media mail rate is.