It's hard to believe Barnes & Noble would fall so far so fast.
That was as solid as Mt. Rushmore at one time. Geese!!!

I've always thought B&N to be rather high, considering you can order from Amazon or purchase from Books A Million at cheaper prices. Yet, it is hard to believe B&N's fall condisering they cornered the bookstore market 25 years ago.

Hi Mustang,
I know. B & N stock apparently dropped from $45.00 a share
to $16.00 a share. I'm guessing the Internet disrupted book sales, as it has newspaper sales.

Personally, I prefer to shop at local bookstores, not the big chains. Same for everything I buy; I go to local stores first. I can find just about everything I need there. I only go to the big chains when I just can't find what I need at the local store. I do pay more sometimes for shopping local, but most of the time it isn't any more expensive, and I'm supporting the local economy. I even bank at a local credit union; I had so many problems with the big banks it just wasn't worth the hassle. When my Mom died, it took them 6 months to close her accounts. Every month they sent a statement with a service charge; every month I was at the bank to get the charge reversed and to close the account - again. And then they acted all bewildered and huffy when I moved my accounts, too! It just boggles the mind!!

yonuh,
I agree shopping locally is much wiser. I was commenting on
a news article that surprised me. I thought B&N was above
the fray. Guess not. Perhaps they had mismanagement at the top,
like so many businesses, which have crashed in recent years.
Don't know. But the Internet has taken a lot of focus away
from many enterprises, such as: the post office, the newspapers
and magazines, etc.

The average American reads 3 books a year.

Obviously, most of us are pulling that average way up, LOL. B&N suffers from the same issue as most consumer retailers - the market is fracturing (as Boomers age and Gens X/Y/Millenials start families and buying homes) and the Internet impacts sales.

For instance, I no longer read the local paper, except for a stray article or two every couple of months. I read on-line almost exclusively. I'd rather pay for an on-line WSJournal than a hard copy. I can search archives, send articles around via email, and avoid advertising almost entirely.

We bought a Kindle and my new netbook has the Kindle for PC software. Love it! There are books just not worth buying; I can search most of them on amazon to see if it looks worth reading, and buy it for less in e-book format. Now I buy more books I really want to keep and reread, rather than dozens I end up donating to the local library.

I'm a Boomer but shop more like a Millenial. I hardly ever walk into a bricks and mortar store any longer. So much easier to pop off to amazon and order it for 2-day delivery. If the grocers ever perfect on-line shopping I'll use that too, but when I tried it, it wasn't a success - too many substitutions or missing items, the 'personal shopper' can't adjust for stuff out-of-stock or on sale.

We actually go to B&N more often now, but that's because they teamed up with Barclays for a Mastercard that offers gift cards as point rewards. We are in the four-figures for redeemable gift cards and use up every one of them.