Are retail bookstores doomed to failure?
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The last remaining national bookstore chain is being taken off the shelf and dusted off for sale.
Barnes & Noble’s founder Leonard Riggio disclosed in a regulatory filing Monday that he wants to acquire the company’s stores and website, but not the business that makes the Nook e-reader or the company’s college bookstores. No price was disclosed.
Barnes & Noble, based in New York, has been struggling to find its place as more readers have shifted to electronic books and competition has grown from discount stores and online competitors. The company, which has 689 bookstores in 50 states and 674 college bookstores, has been trying to avoid the fate of its former rival Borders Group, which did not adapt to the growing threat of the Internet and e-books and went out of business in 2011.
Do you think retail bookstores are doomed to failure with the exploding popularity of e-book readers and the Internet?
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My wife and I read a lot of books and it has been several years since either one of us read a hard copy book. We both have our electronic tablets and we conveniently download what we want to read. We both prefer reading from our tablets.
I even use an electronic version of the Bible on my ipad. It is a great way to read the bible with lots of convenient features (highlight, leave notes, find any passage very quickly, compare different versions, etc.)
I have read that over 50% of book sales are now in the form of electronic downloads. We are quickly reaching the point where a hard copy book will be a novelty item and/or a thing of the past. The traditional bookstore will also be a novelty item and/or a thing of the past.
Not yet I don’t think, with actual books you don’t have to worry about charging a battery or a failure and loss of everything you’ve bought to that point. No worries about outdated hardware requiring expensive upgrades with real books. It would probably be good for marketing since thier will be a record of everything you’ve read or at least purchased so they can target you for future purchases. It may be good for security too since the ability to track what may be considered subversive publications and those who read them will be there at the click of a mouse, there is no such thing as privacy when it comes to anything concerning the internet.
It is coming though and it will be a sad day when the last traditional bookstore closes it’s doors, convenience has it’s price even if it’s not apparent until payment comes due.
No, bookstores are not doomed to failure. They are blessed with an opportunity to adapt to new technology. Nostalgic and anachronistic reading habits will change over the next two generations and bookstores that can provide enhanced value will survive. The movies and the movie theater experience didn’t die with the advent of television and cable. Movie theaters adapted and evolved. So will bookstores.