The title alludes to the fact that I've never before linked a National Review article in this blog. I may read National Review, but rarely do they have an article that corresponds to the subject matter commonly covered here.
The article by Rich Lowry begins:
"You have to have a heart of stone not to feel a pang of sadness at the passing of the bookstore Borders. The retailer is liquidating its 399 remaining outlets and letting go nearly 11,000 employees. Gone will be the era when no shopping-mall parking lot in America seemed complete without an adjoining Borders, offering up its capacious aisles to browse for books you had no idea you needed."
A good pull at the heartstrings, and true to a point, but the most relevant section is this:
"Then it didn’t recognize quickly enough the new ways of delivering them. It had to rely on Amazon to sell its books online, a boost to the online retailer that would do so much to make the Borders model obsolete. It branched out into sales of CDs and DVDs, an initially profitable move that backfired when the music industry went digital. It missed out on e-books. Locked into leases at uneconomical locations, its voluminous real estate began to weigh it down. Barnes & Noble, in contrast, developed a website to sell its books online itself and marketed its own e-book reader, the Nook. It secured a prized partnership with Starbucks for the coffee at its cafés. It lost $59 million last quarter, but it’s still standing."
Makes you wonder how much longer Barnes and Noble will be around. Personally I think it will still be around, but as I've argued here before, they will have to refine and redevelop their offering. More cafe space, fewer aisles? More kids toys, study furniture, pens and office wares perhaps.
Will be fun to see from this perspective. Terrifying if you work for Barnes and Noble.
1 comment:
Many people go to the Book stores like they used to go to the library. Why? Because most libraries don't have the newest publications. They are out dated and due to budget cuts aren't able to acquire more than a small portion of new books.
People go into a bookstore like Borders, Barnes & Nobles and let the kids off in the children's books. As if it's a monitored area of a children's corner in the library. They get the books they are looking to research, go to a table and study - photocopy, take notes, etc.
There are some, due to low income or tight finances, who pick a book from a favorite author and start reading. Frankly, this is a bit like stealing. The story is the product, not the book. Once read, there is no real need for the book. So a person is taking with them the story, leaving the book and the author doesn't get paid for it.
If people want to be nice to up and coming authors that are trying to make it in this economy - buy the book. Don't shoplift the story.
If the libraries were better funded, then perhaps people would use them more. But if you find a book that is especially helpful, return the favor and purchase the book.
As for the kids, don't let them make a mess of the kids area, damage the books or disturb others. If you need study time, see if a family member or a good friend could watch your child for an hour or so. Offer to do the same for them, or invite them to dinner or a picnic in exchange.
We are so bound up in spending money. Money has become this need it, want it, useless commodity.
You can't eat it, wear it or live in it - but everyone wants it.
If people could refocus to exchanging a service for a service or item for item - we'd have a lot fewer problems with high debt.
When you go to the bookstore, try to give support for new authors by requesting or even ordering their books. New authors often don't get enough exposure, which means they can't always find a market for their next book.
Feed an author, buy a book.
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