Saw this article. A bit unexpected in a good way!
As this example makes clear, Daunt started giving more power to the stores. But publishers complained bitterly. They now had to make more sales calls, and convince local bookbuyers—and that’s hard work. Even worse, when a new book doesn’t live up to expectations, the local workers see this immediately. Books are expected to appeal to readers—and just convincing a head buyer at headquarters was no longer enough.
Daunt also refused to dumb-down the store offerings. The key challenge, he claimed was to “create an environment that’s intellectually satisfying—and not in a snobbish way, but in the sense of feeding your mind.”
EDIT: Barnes & Noble.
by LiesToldbySociety
31 Comments
Sounds legit. It would be nice to have a nice bookstore survive.
I so appreciate that you took the time to paste a short excerpt and share your own thoughts. This format is so much more conducive to discussion than just sharing a link and headline.
While my first choice is to buy my books from local indie bookstores, I will buy from B&N — and especially online through [bn.com](https://bn.com) — as an alternative to Amazon. Several indie bookstore owners have told me that they now consider B&N as an ally against Amazon, no longer an enemy. So I’m happy to see B&N management taking steps to become even more locally oriented.
The philosophy section at my local Barnes and Noble keeps getting smaller and smaller and the Wicca and Witchcraft books next to it are expanding into it, and it is terrifying.
B&N is much preferred over Amazon. Nice to have brick and mortar options to go and peruse. Did a lot of my holiday shopping there this year for most people in my life.
My big problem with B&N is they seem to have fewer books every time and more toys and games. I don’t mind if the toys and games are tied to a series, like having a stuffed Hedwig or Harry Potter wands, but…Lego sets? Puppets? Greeting cards? Games? I’d rather have more books and go somewhere else for games and toys.
Plus most people seem to go to B&N for the coffee shop and free wifi. We have one B&N that used to be packed all the time and then the Starbucks next to it closed. Now you’re lucky if there are ten people in there.
When I was little we couldn’t afford Barnes and Noble. I go regularly as an adult now.
Having a coffee shop and little nooks to read a bit would make me visit B&N all the time.
10 years ago we all hated b&n for pushing out all the local, independent bookstores. now most of them are gone and we cling to b&n because it’s the only authentic bookstore experience left and amazon is trying to gain a monopoly on books
I used to want to see small, independent stores thrive.
Now I just want any physical bookstore to survive…
Manager here: Daunt really has turned around BN over the last 3 years. Sales are way up, stores have a lot more say in how they set displays, tables, endcaps, local employees do orders for books for multiple stores to better serve the local interests, they are slowly expanding the amount of full-time employees with benefits back to pre-2018 (after the stupid layoffs), and plenty more.
Still doesn’t pay well, but it is an easy job, ESPECIALLY for retail, with very few angry customers.
Nobody is discussing how Barnes & Noble have been delegating more and more space to Manga / Anime Media which has been attracting younger demographics.
B&N will always have a soft, warm place in my heart. It’s where my husband and I met, he proposed and we technically got married there. I also discovered Calico Critters there, and those are adorable. 😊 living in another country, I am definitely missing them.
Just don’t ask booksellers about morale, payroll hours, wages, and general corporate support!
Daunt’s a Brit and is famous here for reviving Waterstones, our biggest bookstore chain.
He’s taken the same mentality that revived high street bookshops in the UK and it seems to work over the pond too.
>Even worse, when a new book doesn’t live up to expectations, the local workers see this immediately. Books are expected to appeal to readers—and just convincing a head buyer at headquarters was no longer enough.
Isn’t this what has driven today’s publishing mentality of just publishing blockbuster-potential books and killing the midlist or lowerselling good authors?
I was so surprised last weekend to see local Barnes & Noble completely packed. There weren’t any spots left in the parking lot and even with 3 people at the register the line stayed super long for the hour I was in there with people constantly flowing in.
It made me so happy to see so many people there and I’m hoping it’ll be the same the next time I go!
This is what happens when people that care about and know the business run it.
Now if he can fix the complete disconnect between their brick stores and online store, that would be great
Bring back the Criterion section. Please and thank you.
The old regime of Barnes and Noble really sucked the life out of bookstores. I worked for B. Dalton for ten years and we operated pretty much independently, even though we were owned by B&N. When a B&N opened near us we always got customers coming to us because their stock was awful! We ordered in what we knew customers wanted, not what corporate demanded, thus we always had things on hand. They single-handedly decided B.Dalton was obsolete and closed them all down. Stupid move. I really loved working for that store, it was the best job
I actually noticed this last week. I live in the Midwest but went out to see my mom for her Birthday. She wanted to going shopping and I saw a Barnes and Noble. I begged her to stop since there was a book I had been looking for. I went to the section I normally find it in at my local store and noticed this section was waaaay different. The majority of the books were the same, but some authors were more featured than others. I also noticed some new books on the shelf that I never noticed at my local B&N. I was really excited to see the differences and to realize that this was happening!
I used to avoid B&N and only shop small. Recently I moved to a new town and the small shops are actually terrible. They do have a B&N and I checked it out one day because a book club was meeting there. I was absolutely blown away. This B&N was so wrapped up in the local community and was so well rounded. It houses many local study groups and local clubs and the employees are the ones running these groups. So they know exactly what the store needs. The tables are well though out and diverse, specifically targeting the locals. I can’t get enough of this place.
I do still feel a bit of guilt for now shipping and spending time here. But they are so in the community it almost feels local.
I stopped going to B&N years ago when 50% of ours became a toy store. They then took the chairs and side tables away, so no sitting with a stack of books and sampling them to choose.
It used to be my weekly go to and I always came away with books. I have kids and a grandchild. I love kids and I love to see them reading and learning. That wasn’t really what happened though. It got noisy and uncomfortable and juggling books to look through them was no fun at all.
As nice as it is to believe that just putting a booklover in charge turned the business around, this article doesn’t mention that 2020 was also when BookTok took off, which has been a huge driver of book sales. I’m not sure that the decisions made by Daunt made as much of a difference as that did. Print book sales rose 8% in 2020 across the board.
Well the toy train table and chocolate milk segment for Barnes and Noble is thriving thanks to my daughter. You’re welcome.
My wife works at Books-A-Million and they use the centralized buyer model (which I assume most other companies do too). It’s stupid because the buyer is in Arkansas and has literally no idea what people in Wisconsin are interested in, so they have a huge dusty section full of civil war books and southern cook books that have too much flavor for the sconies up here
I know this might be an unpopular opinion but I fucking love Barnes & Noble. I live in NYC and the union square location has almost never let me down. No matter how obscure the book I was looking for was they almost always had a copy, and when they didn’t have it they ordered it and it was there within a day or two. Compared to The Strand, which is just a few blocks away, it’s far superior in selection and don’t even get me started on customer service. My favorite bookstore ever is Powells in Portland but damn if I don’t love a B&N!
I don’t like the direction B&N went with offering lots of non book items in their stores. I’m probably alone in this though.
I met my husband at Barnes and Nobles in 1997. We go there often on date days – dinner and B&N. I love going there and just looking around to find a book I wouldn’t think to “look up” online.
For my birthday, it has become a tradition to go to the local spa for a massage, go to Barnes & Noble where my husband buys me whatever books I want, and then go to dinner.
Come to the library. We have free books!
I was filled with dread when I saw a nearby B&N was closing, but just turns out they’re moving across the road. Bookstores are my happy place and I don’t want to lose them.
They also opened up a new, more compact one, ironically where an Amazon bookstore used to be. Way to rub it in!