Borders in trouble - B&N not much better

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by paulg61, Dec 19, 2010.

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  1. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    I just found this old thread and gave it a re-read and man this is depressing. I hope B&N can survive another 10 years but I kind of doubt it.
     
  2. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    Hard to say. The B&N locations around me always seem to be pretty busy. I always preferred Borders over B&N, but B&N still serves a market need pretty well, I think.

    It does strike me as odd that the non-music locations around here are now stocking, I'm guessing, 100 or so LP titles in a display near the center of the store, including all the Beatles titles in their own dedicated section of the display.
     
  3. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Why is that odd? I am sure the turnover on vinyl LPs versus display footprint is at least as high as 95% of all the books in a B&N store. Only a sliver of the books in a bookstore pay the bills. The rest are needed to drive traffic to the store, though.
     
  4. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    Maybe. All I know is that I am a bit of a bookstore rat and visit a number of the local B&N locations around here very routinely, and at the non-music locations (Lynnwood, Bellingham) that I go to a lot, I am always the only person looking through the record display. (I mean that in literal terms. I have never had anybody looking through records at the same time as me, not even once.)
     
  5. Myke

    Myke Trying Not To Spook The Horse

    If you have a large demographic of the same type of young people we have migrating here, then it's not odd at all. First we hated all the condos going up, but then we realized how much they're willing to pay for our vinyl...be it originals, or the current reissued pressings.
    .
     
  6. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    Barnes & Noble in my area is usually busy, but I think a lot of people just sit and read books and magazines and leave without buying anything. Some people get food or coffee. It just seems that a lot of people who spend time there don't actually buy books, magazines, or music.
     
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  7. redmetalmoose

    redmetalmoose Forum Resident

    Location:
    New England
    The two large B&N I go into on occasion have full parking lots and plenty of customers.I never paid any attention to whether anyone else was buying or 'just sitting reading a book or magazine while having a cup of coffee' as the music/criterion dvd section has its own register.I think they should change to a policy where you must purchase your media before going into the seating-food court area immediately.This would anger many but what you guys described is an unsustainable business model.What these 'customers' are doing is dishonest and borders on stealing imo.
    Matt,now I have actually seen young music lovers purchasing vinyls(let's make Steve's head explode) many times.So much so,they have taken half the space that was once reserved for cds.This is in addition to the large center store display.The music/dvd section seems to do very well and I do see money changing hands.I'd hate to see it go away or become just an online entity but that seems inevitable.
     
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  8. Tedster

    Tedster Forum Resident

    Same, I detest running the gauntlet, parking, having to deal with idiots etc and avoid as much as possible.

    Online shopping works fine when the customer knows exactly what they want. Ordering the wrong part, or the wrong size or whatever - this presents a problem because returns are oftrn a hassle or even going to the post office is just as bad. Local shopping, if returns are anticipated or possible is better.
     
  9. Hot Ptah

    Hot Ptah Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    Kansas City, MO
    Last week, I went to the largest Barnes & Noble store in my city for the first time in almost two years. The CD section was much larger and deeper than it had been two years ago, and there was a vinyl section. The CD box set section was much larger than it had been two years ago. The staff person said that they have had quite a resurgence in music sales. I wonder if home office corporate policy will allow this development to continue in this store, or not.
     
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  10. Gene Parmesan

    Gene Parmesan Forum Resident

    Location:
    PA, USA
    I went into the media area of B&N yesterday for the first time in a long time and the (small) CD section was sorted by price, then artist, i.e. the $4.99 CDs, the $7.99 CDs, the $9.99 CDs, etc. I didn't see any music box sets. The vinyls took up as much room as the CDs.
     
  11. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    They've had those CD sections by price for awhile. At first, they had just $4.99 and $7.99 sections, but they added the $9.99 section when they downsized the rest of the CD department within the last year. Included in the $9.99 section is several of the Warner Original Album Collection five-disc sets. I've also seen a couple Sony five-disc sets for $9.99.

    My local Barnes & Noble still has a "regular" CD section in two rows back-to-back. One row is rock, pop, R&B, and blues. The other side is classical. That's where you find the higher-priced discs (newer titles, multi-disc sets). Those rows will probably go away soon.

    Regarding vinyl, Barnes & Noble stores in my area started with a small display at the front of the store and a second smaller display in the media department. One store in my area replaced CDs in a large L-shaped rack with LPs. So now they have many LPs on this tiered L-shaped rack. It looks impressive. I question how well they are selling because I never see people buying or even browsing the records when I'm there.
     
  12. Tjazz

    Tjazz Breakfast at (a record store)

    Location:
    USA
    I've never seen anyone browsing or buying the LPs. (I'm waiting for the LPs to get marked down -- hit the clearance bins) I remember about 5 years ago, B & N cleared out their LPs. Some were eventually marked down to $2. I think I got a Springsteen for $2. Bought some others, that are still SEALED.
     
  13. MartyTem

    MartyTem Forum Resident

    I've been able to get some good deals from my Barnes & Noble as a participant in their member program. Recently they had a 20% discount on all purchases for a weekend for members. Using gift cards purchased online for B&N at a discount gave me another 15% off on the total (including tax). Other times they send a coupon for 20% off on a single purchase with another 10% off for members. Online gift cards work as well on the balance. Have been able to pick up the Rush LP remasters at a great price using these promotions.
     
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