I go into my local Barnes and Noble about every six weeks or so - mainly  to check out the remaindered books and look for new releases in my favorite genres.  Imagine my chagrin to discover that they no longer keep new releases for each genre separately.   (They still have a small new release section - but that is so generic as to be worthless.)  WTF?   One of the main attractions of a physical bookstore is to be able to go into it and see what new releases might appeal to you.   And this is apparently not just my local store but a nationwide shift in policy.  

Of course I can go online and see what new releases are coming up - but as long as I have to do that I may as well just order stuff online.   

Unless I have to pickup something at the last minute as a gift I doubt I will be going to Barnes and Noble very often anymore (if at all).

Yours is still a Barnes and Noble? All of ours went under a few years back and have reappeared as BAM (Books-a-Million)

Books? Never heard of it

I suppose you are one of those new fangled technology sorts then:





 

Went in to allow the kids to buy some books after our school book fair was basically sold out. Kids had 50.00 to spend and one of their choices was a book set that was 10.00 cheaper on Amazon. Got to the register to find out they also don't match Amazon or competitors prices here in Pa.....being overpriced right off the bat doesn't help either. Ours is full of people at the cafe reading and not buying. Doubt I'll bring the kids back in their again. As a finance guy I can see their days are numbered.

Well Borders is no longer around...wonder why. With all the tablets and such...not many people buying books unless they're like me and hate the new tablet readers. I like an old fashioned book.

I think there's still a Barns and Noble near me though. I haven't been in there for a year or two though because as FIkap said, Amazon prices are better. B&N just don't offer the same amount of books Amazon does. I went in with a list of books I wanted...some of them were only a year or two old...not in any stores around me. But Amazon had them all in stock :/

Honestly I just go to HPB unless it's a book I've been wanting for several months and can't find it at HPB/thrift stores. Like a series.

I once attempted to buy Zelda Hyrule Hystoria from a Barnes & Noble store. They said it wasn't in stock but they could get it for like $30-something for in store pick up. Then I said well that's $20-something on the website; they replied that was online only, but they could ring up an online order to ship to my house and I can pay at the register. I did and they delivered, but I could have gotten it even less on Amazon. I really wanna support my local brick and mortar stores but shenanegans like that make it hard to do sometimes.

Last time I went in to look up a book at one of their computers. An associate asked me if I needed help repeatedly despite me telling him no. Then he locked the computer out on me. Odd that they point catalogue computers in the direction of the public but refuse to let you check the location of an item in store. I just walked out and went to Book a Million. A couple miles closer and they don't give me any hassles.

Besides non-fiction, most books of the fictional kind are virtually absent from Amazon's best-sellers list, the top 100, in fact. It's all catered to women. Amazon's best sellers for Kindle are all hardcore erotica for mommies. Sure, they're indie, but it hasn't really changed the face of literature in a positive way like people hoped. Then again, you won't find many serious novels for the ladies, either. There is the occasional reprints of Harry Potter, but not much else. I considered changing my audience as a writer to appeal to teenage girls with pretty, Final Fantasy-type characters since no one wants to read guy lit, which is becoming obsolete.

B&N have never shed their pretentiousness, and now I think it's catching up to them.

I'm somewhat surprised online sites like Amazon haven't already closed down most of B&N's brick and mortar stores.

Where are you getting this info that romance novels are the #1 best-selling fiction? I think classics like 1984 are higher than any trashy romance lately.

They sell a lot of romance novels but paperbacks are cheap. You can get them for $1 all day long at thrift shops and they're even cheap brand new. No I don't read them btw, just stating a fact. The genre is not quite the cash cow with indie writers now competing for space, but sometimes hits come from nowhere. 

I think 50 shades of Gray got it's start this way. No-name author writes trashy trilogy of novels that goes digital->print->blockbuster movie. I rather enjoyed the movie though, bought the book but never read it. 

Also it doesn't matter if it came out last week or 30 years ago, if you never read it, it's new. I seem to recall a Family Guy skit where Peter tried his hand at writing romance novels and made it big until Pewtershmit got sued...  

Moving on, it was funny when Amazon opened up preorders for the Zelda BOTW strategy guide, the hardcover edition went to #1 of the overall bestseller list almost instantly, before plummeting off the list. So an average of a few weeks to a month would be a better indication of what's selling, than a list that changes on a daily basis.

I keep thinking this thread is about Jethro Tull.

 
A few years ago (Borders had just closed) I was in a Barnes and Noble and wanted to look up a book. So I head over to the computers (because like you said they look accessible to the public and I was used to shopping at Borders where you could use the PC). An employee spotted me and quickly rushed over to ask if I needed any help. I told her nope I got it while continuing to look up my book. She says "but you can't use the employee computer" but I'm annoyed at this point so I just smile and insist "oh no it's ok, I can use a computer". While giving her a verbal run-around I locate my book. She was pretty annoyed but fuck it. I hate asking employees to look up a book and dealing with the sales pitch. 

 

That sounds backwards...  

The Books-a-Millions in our area closed a few years ago and weren't replaced by anything.

The couple of Barnes and Nobles are still going strong.

 

Bookstore? What's a bookstore?

Think I know of 2 bookstores around Middle TN.

There's 1 Barnes and Noble and 1 Books a Million that I can think of.

But hell I haven't read a full book since 2008...

When I do want to read a book, I buy it online..

Man, a Books-A-Million? Haven't seen one of those in a while...the local one closed down YEARS ago and was replaced by a 2nd and Charles. 

I kinda quit going to Barnes and Noble a few years back when they discontinued their media section. Like, why on earth, they had a MASSIVE selection of DVDs (mostly TV shows that are balls hard to find in any
store, besides online, and a metric ton of CDs.

Recently (as in, around 2 years ago) discovered several local used book stores which are incredibly nice and priced for war against online. Only reason I'd ever go back to B&N is if there's a particular 'leather'bound classic I'd like to pick up.

Our B&N still has that huge media section.

The thing that I think is a bit odd is the ever-expanding toy/game/model section.
They seem to carry GunPla now, along with the selected LEGO sets, and reasonably good boardgame and puzzle selection.

 

Yeah, the media section at my local B&N was turned exclusively into kid's stuff, mainly toys. The board game and puzzle section is still seperate, oddly, so it's now close to 40% of the entire store kids/toys/games

Hastings trumps Barnes and Noble a thousand times over. Too bad there's not a Hastings in my city but I know of multiple locations across Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas but none closer than 70 miles. When FYE shut down at our local mall, that left Best Buy as the largest CD retailer in our area, and the selection is pitiful. Hastings had isle after isle of CDs, as well as DVDs, comic books, collectibles, toys, and yes, books. They even have a vinyl section. Barnes does too now but no CDs oddly. It seems they stock more niche products nowadays.

Man do I ever miss Borders.  I used to love going into that bookstore and always found what I was looking for when I went there, whether it was books or movies.  In my opinion, I think their selection was way better than Barnes & Noble and I was really disappointed when they went out of business.  I rarely go into Barnes & Noble and buy any books I'm looking for on Amazon because they're cheaper and I can always find what I'm looking for.

Hastings no longer exist, went bankrupt last year. It's a shame, I will miss that store.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Has...


 

...huh. That explains why their website was having a ton of cd/dvd/bluray sales last year. There weren't ever any stores near why live so I only just knew about them online
 

Ah phuck, dude... even their website, http://gohastings.com... has been hijacked.  

Last known crawl from wayback machine:
http://web.archive.org/web/201607...

I even had a membership card there I rarely used. Last time I visited a store in March 2016 in Alexandria, LA.