I'm not sure about the games but at this moment in time the hardcover book sale ends tomorrow (they did extend the sale by a day last year but I would still count on it finishing end of day tomorrow). The select vinyl sale should continue for a longer period of time - possibly until the end of January.
Indeed, my local had a huge 50% off vinyl selection about four years ago but they've since moved music & movies out of the dedicated room onto the main floor. There's still a good movie selection, but vinyl not so much.
The Bellevue, WA store recently moved and did the same thing - 50% off everything excluding music & movies.
@Jspmike when I was at my local B&N yesterday the 50% off games sign said something like ‘once they’re gone, they’re gone.’ I’m wondering of that means they’re getting rid of their games altogether - would you happen to know? Also, the 50% LP selection was mostly junk - no new stock added so it’s the same LPs that have been sitting there for a few years now, with remnants of various sales stickers on them. I doubt they’d move any of them if even 75% off. Holiday LPs are 30% off. Nothing I needed but at least a couple nice titles.
My local store had the 50% off all hard cover book sale today. I picked up Bono "Surrender", Steve Martin "Number One is Walking", and Dave Grohl's autobiography. They had one very small section of 50% off vinyl, but nothing in there of interest.
The “once they’re gone, they’re gone” wording is also on the hardcover book sale signs so no, they are not getting rid of games.
Phew! The game section at my local is really impressive, glad to hear it will remain. Another observation - they really scaled back the graphic novel/comic book ‘book’ section to just one ‘rack’ but the manga section is massive, an entire row. I’d guess it’s literally the biggest section in the store.
Was able to get Radiohead - King of Limbs manifested from a Connecticut store over to Paramus NJ B&N. $12.50 w/tax. Missed out on this album last 50% sale, so happy to finally get one.
Barely worth it at $25, I’ll have to check the expiration date of my membership and proactively cancel before it automatically renews.
They've been rolling out the two new membership schemes at different locations over the last several months. What you have now is called a "Legacy Membership" which once it reaches it's expiration date will no longer exist so it should not auto-renew. If you find yourself in a Barnes & Noble store after your Legacy membership expires you will be given two separate options if you would like to continue being a member - 1. Premium membership. The price is $39.99. With this you save the 10%, get stamps, cafe upgrades etc. 2. Rewards program. This is free. Basically for every $10 you spend you get a stamp. When you have ten stamps you get a $5 reward. At the store i work at we've been told that the emphasis is being put on customer service going forward and no longer on trying to convince people to buy a membership. I've liked what I've seen so far with both programs.
It's an insult to members who just renewed their memberships less than 6 months ago. I have been a member for 5 years. There are a lot less coupons now whereas before every holiday weekend throughout the year you could count on a 10% off coupon. And the check out process is super annoying...always upselling memberships at the check out counter and increasing wait times for everyone else, including members. Barnes and Noble should just automatically up grade my membership to the new one without any obligations. An automatic checkout stand for members only would be nice. One bonus ( sort of like a mild form of blackmail) of having a membership is that they don't dunn you about being a member at the cash register. Now if you are a member they dunn you about the "premium" membership.
If you are interested you can link the free rewards program with your Legacy membership. I too miss the coupons - especially the 20% off ones. In the blurb about the new membership coupons were mentioned but I'm not sure yet what form they will take (it could be something like double stamp weekends - I'm still completely in the dark though so don't read anything into that). The reason why cashiers were upselling so aggressively the membership at the checkouts is that they were being examined on how many memberships they were selling. With the emphasis now on customer service at this point in time we are being told that this is no longer the case. Hopefully things will improve. On a personal note i love your idea about a dedicated checkout stand for members! That would be a great perk!
They’ve been opening smaller stores in Mass that are more in spirit of the smaller chains that they owned many years back (B. Dalton or Walden), where the toys, puzzles, and audio/video has been de-emphasized. I’d assume that we’ll see the sales disappear along with it as they try to emulate the neighborhood store model.
You can have your current membership upgraded to Premier level for free, but with that it will auto-renew you and charge $39.99 to your credit card. I’m in the same boat, my last renewal was this past December, and I’m annoyed as well.
Thanks for the detailed program explanation - based on my most recent visit it can be confusing when a clerk has to quickly describe it during checkout.
If you are purchasing anything in the next few months my suggestion would be to upgrade to the rewards program (which is free). That way you still save the 10% (with your Legacy membership) and get the stamps (with the rewards program). You will also have the control over whether you wish to sign up for the premium membership when your Legacy membership expires.
To be honest it's a little confusing trying to explain it to people! There's been a few times I've become tongue tied!
My “legacy” membership renewed automatically the other day. They charged my credit card $27 without asking me whether I want to continue. As I expected, my local store, where I initially bought in, can’t reverse the charge. So, I’ll be calling 1-800-THE-BOOK to cancel since I won’t spend enough here to make it worth it.
I'm guessing your store hasn't gone"live" with the Premium Membership yet? Regardless, charging you without notification is unacceptable.
When I called, the person I spoke to explained the new “premium” “membership” option and the “rewards” stamps. Now I wonder if I accidentally got into the premium club but at a discount. I doubt it, but even if so, I just don’t shop there as often as I used to, so it’s not worth joining.
In other words, a Premium member would need to spend $380 (considering 10% discount and effectively $20 worth of stamps) in 12 months to just break even. Ouch. If one spent $500 in a year the true savings would be just $17, far less than what I’m guessing the savings would be if those same items were purchased on Amazon. I really like Barnes & Noble and hope they succeed but some of their decisions (like this one, as well as significantly reducing stock in its sores) baffle me. Mike, I vote to put you in charge!
