We Should NOT Be Crying For Barnes & Noble. Nope. Uh, Uh.
No Crying.
Instead, we should be praying for resurrection through vision, critical thinking and the outmoded notion of customer service.
First independent book stores blamed chains like Barnes & Noble for stealing their customers. Then Crown Books went under. And Borders made a big splat. They blamed Amazon. B&N is the last brick-and-mortar titan standing and it’s against the ropes.
And they blame Amazon too.
Blame is easy to come by in the book biz. Never mind that antiquated business models and the failure to have a glimpse of the future lie at the root of the legacy company failures.
Critical thinking and visionary ideas abandoned legacy publishing sometime in the 1930s.
An article in the Los Angeles Times said:
Barnes & Noble isn’t near dead, but a lot of writers are lining up to lament its passing. They say the chain’s demise would be a blow to books, especially in suburban America.
Last week, Barnes & Noble announced that it would close about 20 stores each year over the next decade, leaving at least 450 stores (before the Great Recession struck, the chain had 726). Suddenly, the book behemoth, once seen as responsible (with its vanquished foe, Borders) for the demise of many an independent bookstore, is being celebrated for its contribution to book culture.
Stop whining.
Sell customers what they want to read, how they want to read it, at a decent price and deliver it in the manner the customer prefers.
