Im not one of those people that believes bookstores are being killed by the digital distribution era. Large-scale chain bookstores are being killed by poor customer service and a retail budgeting formula based on maximizing profits at the administrative level instead of keeping the sales staff happy (Barnes and Noble, Wal-Mart, GameStop and many other large chain stores use a ridiculous formula for determining how many employees are scheduled per week usually resulting in one employee or no employees covering entire sections of the store). Barnes and Noble allowed a culture of middle management (watch Mike Judges OFFICE SPACE to fully understand what I mean) to take over their stores, resulting in a wave of cronyism and the promotion of people that have no idea about whats hot in the literary world and no idea how to properly engage customers (i.e. upselling in a bookstore is one of the worst tactics in the world). If Barnes shuts their doors, I do predict a good chunk of outrage and fear about the future of American literacy but in the long-term you will see the slow reemergence of Mom and Pop bookstores that will open in supportive areas which means that poorer and more remote areas simply wont have bookstores. After working at Barnes for about two years when I first moved to LA, I can say that the writing has been on the wall since 2012. This isnt shocking. focusofswfl/2014/05/barnes-noble-gone-by-new-years/
Posted on: Wed, 14 May 2014 17:20:20 +0000
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