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He's saying the arguments of the post are irrelevant. Sure they could have hired seasonal workers for the holidays, and maybe had better results, but either way
by ams6110 9y ago
He's saying the arguments of the post are irrelevant. Sure they could have hired seasonal workers for the holidays, and maybe had better results, but either way they are doomed.
I haven't bought a book at a retail outlet in probably 10 years. There's just nothing about the retail experience at B&N that's even worth the effort to drive there and park. It's not salvageable.
- emodendroket 9y agoYou don't think there is space in the United States' market for even a single major brick-and-mortar retailer of books? I find that pretty hard to believe.
- ams6110 9y agoNot really. Not for the long term. Certain independents and specialty shops -- sure. We still have record stores here and there, but the big chains are all gone.
- emodendroket 9y agoFye is still around.
- ams6110 9y agoNever heard of 'em. Where I live, we used to have Musicland - gone. Sam Goody - Gone. Tower - Gone. Several other smaller shops -- all closed years ago. There's only one record store here, an independent dealing mostly in new and used vinyl.
- emodendroket 9y agohttps://stores.fye.com/index.html https://stores.fye.com/index.html There are also various regional retailers.
- sanderjd 9y agoI love wandering around in my local B&N and in my local independent bookstore, but I don't find it at all hard to believe that this sort of thing is a small niche that is not sustainable in the long run. I find it harder to believe that you find this hard to believe.
- caymanjim 9y agoSure, there's room. Amazon just opened a giant store right here in Manhattan. You can even ship your Amazon packages there, or pay for books online and pick them up on your way home from work. Plan on seeing more Amazon stores. They'll probably buy up a few B&N spaces.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoMany amazon stores are B. Dalton mall store sized, not B&N super store sized. It’s weird, because we are basically back to where we were before the super book stores.
- Digory 9y agoIf there is such space, it will have to be run by kiosk and a few minimum wage employees. B&N's 'competitive advantage' today is not experienced staff. I can't ever recall an employee up-selling significant amounts of merchandise, or having a customer relationship that might move a needle. Like Sears, it has real estate and a terrible retail position. If you treat the stores like mini-warehouses, with Amazon-warehouse-worker-hours, it might work. My guess is that failing to staff-up for the holidays was, seen charitably, a way to get the full-timers through the holidays.
- emodendroket 9y ago> If there is such space, it will have to be run by kiosk and a few minimum wage employees. I don't think so. Outside of the airport that's not useful to anyone. At that rate you can just go to the section where they have bestsellers at Costco or Walmart. A bookstore with no selection is practically pointless.
- Digory 9y agoNo, kiosk-based service, not kiosk-sized stores. You want a big selection, but software or other merchandising helping customers locate things and up-sell. Target has more merchandise than B&N, but there's no career employee on the floor to suggest that you might like Mossimo if you bought Merona.
- tcj_phx 9y ago> There's just nothing about the retail experience at B&N that's even worth the effort to drive there and park. The last book I bought at B&N wasn't so long ago. They pulled it off the shelf and had it waiting for me when I arrived. I appreciated being able to preview it to decide it was worth buying. I don't have a local B&N anymore, but a local independent book shop is pretty good. They've ordered new books for me to preview too.