Downfall of Barnes & Noble!?

They aren't going anywhere!

This really is all just media hype... If you do some more reading about it you will see that Lynne Riggio wants to purchase the company and take it private to restructure. They truly did believe that their stocks were undervalued. Unfortunately the media will not give them a break, and this article has far too much speculation to be taken as fact.

I loved Borders. I can make do with Barnes & Noble and Amazon, but Borders was always my favorite. I did my part. I buy tons of books, and before they closed my Borders down, all of them were from there. I don't think petitions and things like that will be very effective in this situation. It's a business, not a law to be changed or a cause that people need to be recruited to. It's capitalism, and that's how capitalism works. Some businesses thrive and some fail. That's just the way it is. EDIT: @The Magical Quill/Team Hedwig: You kind of seem to hate electronics. If you're so against them, maybe you could...oh...get off of the computer? I'm pretty sure that's considered an electronic device. For me, printed books are king, but ebooks have their advantages as well, for many people. Get down off your pedestal and stop being overdramatic.

I'm hoping the new owners don't change the store too much. I love the homey feel that Barnes and Noble has, and I love that I always know where everything is in the store. I've met friends at those stores, I mean, come on! You can't take that away from me.

Barnes and Noble is the only bookstore we have in my town, which for a large town is pretty sad, but our local bookstore just closed, and the closest Borders is two towns away. If Barnes and Noble closes for good, then I'm out a place to buy books.

First the video stores, now the book stores? Those internet services just need to go away.

Eh, I'm pretty indifferent about it. First of all - maybe I'm taking it less seriously than I actually should, I don't know - I doubt that the 2 B&N stores vaguely near me are going to be affected, so I don't care too much about them disappearing. One is 15 minutes from my college, and is absolutely HUGE and does good business, so I'm not worried about it. The other is an hour's drive from my house (where I'm only living in the summer now anyways), and I rarely shopped there to begin with since it was such an effort just to get there.

I prefer to shop on Amazon.com, actually. The books are much cheaper, and for most books, if I order over $25's worth, I get free standard shipping... and I don't mind waiting a few days if it means I'm saving some money. I am a lowly student, after all, lol. Besides that, it's basically guaranteed that I can find the book(s) I'm looking for on Amazon, and depending on the popularity of the book(s), I might not be able to find it/them at a physical store... and placing an order with the store is basically the same as ordering on Amazon anyways. Atmosphere-wise, B&N wins hands-down, but I have to go with the option that leaves me some grocery money.

And for your point about e-books... I am not a fan of them. Of course, this might be because all I have to read them on is my laptop, haha. I read free e-books sometimes - classics that are in the public domain that I don't own a physical copy of - and while it's nice to be able to read the books at all, I really would prefer an actual book. My eyes hurt after staring at my computer screen for a while. And I like turning actual pages. I like being able to use a bookmark. Even if I did own an e-reader, I'd be wary of taking it places with me - I'm so clumsy I'd be afraid that I'd bang my purse against a wall or something and break the e-reader... an actual book can take some damage if it has to. And I ALWAYS have a book with me, no matter where I'm going.

I don't think e-readers are going to take the place of physical books just yet. There's enough of people like you and me who prefer "real" books to keep printers in business. :)

I do want to say that I like the IDEA of e-readers, though - I'm one of those eco-freaks and occasionally I feel guilty buying a physical book when I know I can read it on my computer and not waste paper. But I still don't like e-readers enough to completely switch over to them... maybe if someone figures out a way to get all the physical books I already own onto an e-reader for free, or at a very low cost, I'll think about it some more. I don't expect that to happen any time soon, though.

Actually, it's interesting that you bring this up. A few months ago, a B. Dalton bookstore (which is a branch of B&N) that had been in my local mall (at home, not college) closed. As it was the only bookstore in a town of around 80,000, its closing created a bit of a mess. Most people didn't know that another bookstore was moving in where the B. Dalton was. The new one just opened this week, and it's great!

As a side note, I agree with you about Borders! There's one of those near my college, too, but I hate it. I was in it once and I'll never go in again... it just didn't feel like a bookstore to me, haha. :)

You know what, you're absolutely right. B&N has a sort of atmosphere Borders doesn't have. Borders is actually like a block away from me, but I'd go to the ends of the world for B&N.

But, you know what, the worst possible is amazon. I don't know how people can buy a book through it.

Still, my absolute favorite place in the world is the second hand bookstore a couple of blocks from me. Second hand books have this type of *thing* on them I adore. Sure, I won't find every book in the world in it, but it's still adorable.

I bought a kindle and sold it two days letter. Trying to improve a book is trying to improve chocolate...it doesn't GET any better.

Oh my god. I'm going to cry. I don't even know what to say...

I feel like this is B&N's funeral right now, and that I should stand up and say something to honor this *very* noble book store.

Barns & Noble has always been there for me through thick and thin. The people who worked there cared so much about books and literature, and whenever I couldn't think of the title of a book, the staff would always help me think of it just from their own knowledge without even consulting a computer. The staff knew their stuff. The Starbucks cafe` that was always in every store always provided me with my delicious Jones Soda that I would drink as I read the book I was considering buying. I never had difficulty finding the books I was looking for because the books were so well organized. Barns & Nobles was like my Narnia, so full of magic and wonder! To put it lightly, I'm pissed they're closing.

And Borders can't compare. The staff aren't quite so book-smart as they are at B&N, and from my experience they don't care as much. They're just staff who work to pay the bills. I don't like it!

And e-books? Kindles? Puh! I'm disgusted. I like real books, with paper and ink and you flip the pages. I got an app for 200 free classic books on my iPod Touch, and I never use it. I just don't like it, it's not the same. It doesn't provide the same feeling and experience of actually reading the works of real people who died hundreds of years ago. Because I'm so used to reading real published works in actual physical books, and reading things like fanfiction on the internet, it almost gives the illusion of reading fanfiction if it's on an iPod.

*sigh*

I'm really disappointed. I guess I'll have to settle for ordering books online and having them delivered by mail. But again, it doesn't give you the same thrill of actually entering the store and picking the book up off the shelf. :(

For many years I could not stand Barnes & Noble because I saw this chain (and Borders as well) as responsible for the demise of the local neighborhood bookshops that I so adored when I was growing up. While I did end up going to B&N to get books, it took me a long time to warm up to them. Nowadays I love B&N, and now it seems it may be facing a similar fate as those neighborhood bookstores from my youth.

The Internet and technology has changed so much over a relatively short period of time. Yet I agree with everyone else that nothing beats the feel of an actual book in my hands. I hope we will not see the end of them. To paraphrase Charlton Heston (when he was talking about guns), they can take my books away from me when they pry them out of my cold, dead hands.

There is nothing nearly as relaxing as taking the time to browse through a bookstore. If this is coming to an end then the world will be a much lesser place.

I don't think I've EVER bought a book brand-new and full price (except text books for study)!!

So I have no idea what the difference is between all these various chain stores.

I tend to just scour cheap 2nd hand bookshops and then haggle the poor owners for further discounts! My puppy dog eyes work like magic. Ah, the perils of being penniless!

Anyway, I think there's something very endearing about old, yellowed, and pre-loved books. And I for one take great delight in reading comments left by others in the margins... even when they're uninspired and unfunny.

Don't be sad, look at this as an opportunity to explore and discover new shops...

Ebooks? Nah, personally I can't stand them, too impersonal.

D:

I've already been through this sadness.

When Borders went bust in the UK, I shed a tear or two. The most depressing part is that after about a year, the empty Borders is still there, with all the empty bookshelves, it's like a grave. :(

Real Books > Ebooks.

EDIT: Just a question, what is B&N like? Cause like the main Book store chain in the UK is called Waterstones, and it's quite dark and old fashioned if you get my gist. And you know what Borders is like. Does Waterstones sound like B&N?

OMG SPIDER G2G SORRY. D:

0_0 Barnes & Noble is my heaven! If it's going down, I'll put up a fight *punches air*

Barnes & Noble is the best bookstore where I live. Borders is pretty nice, too, but there's something about the setup of B&N that I just love. Even though I love e-books (and my Kindle!), I like to read "real" books just as often. I read e-books at night, when I'm too tired to hold something up, but the smell and feel of actual books really can't be replaced.

@Lyra: I agree. B&N is much brighter and more open than Borders. And maybe it's just where I live, but the people working at B&N are much friendlier.