Do you still go to Barnes & Noble bookstores?
Apparently not enough people do nationwide.
Company executives told the Wall Street Journal they plan to close 20 stores a year over the next decade.
No specific stores have been targeted yet for closure.
In the East Bay, there are five Barnes & Noble stores. They are in Emeryville, El Cerrito and Pleasant Hill.
The Fremont location closed in 2010, leaving only a Half Price Books and several independent retailers in the area.
If no new Barnes and Noble stores were opened, that would reduce the number of Barnes & Noble stores nationwide by a third, the Huffington Post reported.
Since 2003, the company has been closing 15 stores a year, but they've also been opening more than 30 a year.
Last year, however, Barnes & Noble closed 14 stores and didn't open any, the Huffington Post reported.
Rival bookstore chain Borders also struggled, filing for bankruptcy in 2011 and closing hundreds of stores nationwide, including the one in Union City and Fremont.
One reason for the faltering of the bookstore giants is a steady decline in book sales. Print book sales have decreased 22 percent over the past five years, according to Nielsen BookScan.
If your Barnes & Noble closed, would you miss it? How can bookstores compete more effectively in this electronic age? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
What a great idea
Right now my Physical Collection consists of 113 Titles, 79 of which are Computer Oriented. Subjects like Cryptography , Ethical Hacking, Information Security, Programming among other more Fringe Subjects. Some of these Books they don't even make anymore due to Legality Issues I think that Knowledge moving to Digital Form is a great thing especially for our Tree's or what's left of them,anyway. In Today's fast paced World, picking up a Book and dedicating Quality Time to Read it isn't as Effective as being able to Open it in a Browser Window, or flip it on a Screen while your Multitasking. Physical Book Stores, can't compete in 2013 and should either move to Online or just find a different Niche.
The Future Of Libraries.
I've only read a couple of ebooks, partially because I don't like the current DRM systems that lock you into a particular device and the obnoxious digital divide that occurs where you sometimes can't get all your favorite authors on the same device legally. I did download the humble ebook bundle that was done a few months back because it was specifically DRM free and in formats that are readable on most platforms, but I've only finished reading one of the books in the bundle. So, I guess it doesn't matter to me if B&N closes down one of the local stores... because I hardly shop there anymore anyways. They're completely missing the mark anyways, they're dedicating large sections of their store to board games, CDs and DVDs these days, instead of trying to develop a community around their store. I'll stick with the local game store, legal DRM-free digital downloads directly from independent musicians, and Netflix to cover those needs... and just learn to be patient enough for my favorite author's newest books to cycle into HPB. And hope for a good local independent bookstore to show up in Fremont.