The Guardian reports that Barnes & Noble is now up for sale.
B&N, which owns 720 high-street shops in all 50 American states, announced it was calling in the investment bank Lazard to advise on strategic alternatives including “a possible sale of the company” after a 45% slump in share price in the last year.
In common with other booksellers, B&N has struggled with changes in customers’ habits. Readers are buying more books online, while digital readers such as Amazon’s Kindle are rapidly becoming popular alternatives to traditional books.
Although B&N has digital and internet offerings including an electronic reading device called the Nook, three-quarters of its turnover still comes from bricks-and-mortar stores which suffered a 4.8% decline in like-for-like sales to $4.3bn in the year to May.
And the decline of print takes another staggering step forward.
Eugh. This sucks.
I spend so much money in that place, I find it hard to believe that they are doing so poorly, but when you consider the types of books most people buy in hard copy form, I can see it. Most of that “stuff” is available at Walmart anyway.