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Barnes and Noble going out of business?

30 replies [Last post]

Thu, 08/19/2010 - 09:00

Hans

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B&N is up for sale. I'm getting a bad Tower Records feeling about this. Damn the internet.

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Thu, 08/19/2010 - 10:16

Superheidi

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I guess Borders finnaly drove them out of business. Borders is going to be the last living bookstore chain in the USA.

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Thu, 08/19/2010 - 10:27

Hans

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It's surprising because B&N had the opportunity to knock everyone else out of the business at one time. I go there once or twice a week and hang out.

What's the world coming to? No record stores, video stores and now book stores are on the outs. It must suck to be a kid.

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Thu, 08/19/2010 - 10:30

Superheidi

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Well, yes and no. Remember, kids can now browse online stores the same way and make purchases from a much wider vareity of cool products... Just a 'different' way to have fun as a kid.

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Thu, 08/19/2010 - 10:39

Hans

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I guess I just have fond memories of gathering up my allowance savings, jumping on my bike and riding to the local record store to buy the newest album. Not to mention all the great memories of the local mom & pop video store. I guess kids today are just becoming more isolated even though with things like Facebook and Xbox Live they think they're communicating even more.

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Thu, 08/19/2010 - 13:10

Tristan Sinns

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This makes me sad as well. I love book stores. I'm glad Borders is still doing well, though I really did like Barnes & Noble.

There's just something about a book store - that "new book smell", that you obviously will never get from visiting Amazon.com. It's like a drug to me. I walk into a book store and I can feel my blood pressure fall a few points.

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Thu, 08/19/2010 - 13:25

Hans

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Yep, exactly. It's so relaxing sitting there being surrounded by books and magazines. I don't like going to libraries for some reason, they make me nervous.

The smell of a new book rivals that of a new car.

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Fri, 08/20/2010 - 01:45

Julie Kerr

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I love going to Barnes & Nobles or Borders and just reading for hours. It's fun and good times. I just read the Batwoman series at Barnes & Nobles a couple of weeks ago.

Lame confession: I have been known to spend a friday night chilling and reading at Barnes and Nobles or Borders. Good times. I was pleasantly surprised to see all the other lamos chilling at a bookstore on a Friday night as well.

I love bookstores. Hang in there Borders.

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Fri, 08/20/2010 - 03:55

Hans

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So it's lame spending a Friday night at Barnes & Noble? Damn, I was thinking it was hip and cool this whole time.

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Sun, 08/22/2010 - 15:33

Superheidi

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I LOVE browsing bookstores. But it is people like me that are the reason the are going out of business (don't kill me): I refuse to pay 10 bucks for a paperback book. At that rate I could read one or two books a month without feeling like my money could be better spent, and that's not enough for me. I'd rather buy a friend's unpublished or self-published novel for 3.99 as a PDF, or buy used from mom n pop used book stores or even from Goodwill (have you seen the books people throw away?) i also like to get my books as 'review' copies from publishers. Same with my movies.

If I don't get it as a review copy, chances are I won't see it, when it comes to films. Because prices have become outrageous. In only ten years the price of a paperback has doubled, if not more, and a hardback has gone from 15.99 ten years ago to 25 or 29 dollars. How is that reasonable? Also, I won't pay 19.99 to watch a movie I will probably mildy enjoy and never watch again. It just doesn't work for today's economy and mindset anymore. Digital downloads make purchasing faster and more reasonably priced for books and films.

I'm much happier with a netflix account and 'watch it now' than going out and buying movies.

Bookstores should look into doing a 'book rental/membership' just like netflix does, where you can read things on your computer, kindle, or TV (if it is hooked up to your computer or Xbox)

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Sun, 08/22/2010 - 17:01

#10

Chris McMillan

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I tend to haunt the used bookstores as well. That said, I'm really spoiled living only a few miles away from Powell's bookstore, which takes up a city block and offers new and used books. And the horror selection there is huge, unlike B&N, which doesn't have one.

I'd love to drop $20 or more for the latest hardcover, but I can justify it, not when I can wait a bit and pick it up later at less than half the original cost.

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Mon, 08/23/2010 - 12:18

#11

Julie Kerr

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Amazon.com tends to be more where I buy my books (usually used). I usually read at Barnes and Noble. I rarely if ever buy books at Barnes and Noble.

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Mon, 08/23/2010 - 14:18

#12

Hans

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I've been buying movies used from Amazon recently. They cost an average of $2 and the box sets, especially seasons of TV shows, are a steal. The books are even cheaper. I also have a Goodwill 10 minutes away and I'll usually stop and take a look if I'm driving by and have a few minutes. They always have one or two hardcovers I want to read but it seems that I've already read most of them. Sometimes they have some good CD's and rare DVD's too. I hit the local pawn shop for DVD's too on occasion and find some horror gems every once in a while.

I'm a sucker when it comes to books. I have enough unread books to last me a good 6 months of solid reading.

It's hard for me to wait for a new book I want to become used. I absolutely loved The Strain and need the sequel on day one. Somebody has to support a real vampire novel.

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Wed, 08/25/2010 - 18:28

#13

Private J.V. Vasquez

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I enjoy going to bookstores, and I do enjoy Barnes and Noble especially getting graphic novels and tradebooks plus regular novels, but Heidi is right sometimes the prices of books have risen greatly which is why I think buying online has been very popular and I have done mostly. I also a big shopper of hastings, used book stores, goodwill, second hand shops. There is a family abuse center thrift store and they have 50 cent book tuesdays and guess what I bought with that? Thomas Harris Red Dragon and also they have old vhs tapes and I got Vincent Price "The Abominable Dr. Phibes." and I grew up watching all those movies. No way I was going to pass that up lol you find some serious horror gems in some of that stuff.

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Wed, 08/25/2010 - 18:36

#14

Private J.V. Vasquez

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RAN wrote:

So it's lame spending a Friday night at Barnes & Noble? Damn, I was thinking it was hip and cool this whole time.

You know what I use to do in highschool I use to go on Saturdays and go to the Library and get tons of books and read. Seriously I was such a dork lol and than maybe go out later with a friend but seriously I was such a nerd.

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Thu, 08/26/2010 - 15:54

#15

Julie Kerr

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Yeah, reading's fun.

Just to maintain my nonexistent street cred. I have also spent Friday nights going out drinking with friends in a very cool manner. It just depends on what I'm in the mood for that weekend.

So, as you can see, I am unbelievably cool and nerdy at the same time.

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Thu, 08/26/2010 - 17:47

#16

Cash Bailey

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Moonbutterfly7 wrote:

You're not alone there. I spent so much time at my library as a kid. Rain, hail or shine I'd get on my bike and ride to the library to check out if they had any new stuff of the things I liked to read at the time.

To this day I can't walk past a second-hand book shop. I have to go in and see what they have. Like Heidi said before, you'd be amazed at the stuff people throw away.

I have so many books I've actually started to sort through the 'unessentials' and give them to the Salvation Army.

Mon, 08/30/2010 - 07:21

#17

Hans

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So I stopped by the Goodwill store on Saturday to see what they had. I picked up Sphere because I love Crichton and can't remember a damn thing about the book or the movie. The video store doesn't have Sphere for rent and I don't feel like paying paying $20 for a Blu-ray that I have a feeling I won't like despite the cast.

But that's not why I'm posting this. The other book I picked up is Tim Allen's I'm Not Really Here. I read his Don't Stand Too Close To A Naked Man and thought it was hysterical but this one is like he pulled everything directly out of my brain. It's basically about how at mid-life instead of thinking about how to juice up the lawnmower or garbage disposal he has become obsessed with quantum physics to try and answer the big questions like who, what and why we are.

I must have begun having my mid-life crisis early because I've been into it for the last 5 or 6 years now along with philosophy, science, space exploration and history. I could write a book off the sentence, "I think therefore I am"

Anyway, I just think it's so cool when I start reading a book and it's as if I could have written it myself. So if anyone is interested in knowing how I think, I know you are, read the book.

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Mon, 08/30/2010 - 09:00

#18

filmgal

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RAN wrote:

The book was very good - the film based on the book wasn't.

Mon, 08/30/2010 - 10:04

#19

Superheidi

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Sharon Stone as a biochemist.

Anyone?

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Fri, 09/03/2010 - 16:04

#20

Private J.V. Vasquez

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Ugh I hate her, I hear she is a bitch to work with and her personality stinks and she kind of sucks, but only sometimes she does alright in roles like I think her best role was in "Casino". But her role in Basic Instinct 2 was lol but I guess those good roles are fading away. I would love to see her starring debut in Wes Craven's movie.

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Sat, 09/04/2010 - 01:09

#21

Julie Kerr

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Sharon Stone: I've only seen her in If These Walls Could talk 2" and "Basic Instinct". I'm indifferent towards her.

Books: It is cool reading a book and feeling like it's telling your story.

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Wed, 09/15/2010 - 11:42

#22

Eddie_the_Head

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Thats to bad, there was a Barnes & Noble that just opened at a local mall. I liked Borders better a couple of years ago because they had a huge cd section with an eclectic mix of things, but unfortunately they cut it down.

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Wed, 09/15/2010 - 17:42

#23

Pipmeister

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Quote:

I LOVE playing hide and seek in Powell's whenever I'm in Portland on business!

I hate to see this happen but I'm also not spending as much in bookstores as I used to. I just got a bunch of coupons for B&N, I guess I better use them quickly.

I wrote a complaint to Borders a couple of years ago because I was sick of them filing the tattoo magazines in "Men's Interests". Yet I prefer the Seattle's Best coffee they have over the Starbucks at B&N.

Sharon Stone's best scene was her "divorce" in Total Recall.

The book to film I hated most was Contact. Bad Jody Foster. BAD! BAD! BAD!

Thu, 09/16/2010 - 01:22

#24

GhostontheNet

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Superheidi wrote:

I guess Borders finnaly drove them out of business. Borders is going to be the last living bookstore chain in the USA.

If so, then that's a remarkable pity. Speaking from the perspective of local stores, Barnes and Noble is one of the last great places to shop and hang out, while Borders has grown quite spineless in its selections. I mean, Borders used to be gutsy and carry some brilliant work in every department I visited, but now they're too afraid of risk to be a true media outlet. With Barnes and Noble, you can at least find quite a few important works in any topic of interest, while still yielding some surprises.

Thu, 09/16/2010 - 01:57

#25

Aerialgrrrl

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I actually work for Borders in Australia (no longer affiliated with Borders US) and I'm really concerned. Prices are out of control (books have a luxury tax in Australia) and everyone I know (including the staff, who get a 30% discount) are buying from Book Depository UK, simply because it's cheaper. Our DVD and CD ranges have shrunk by about a third...and a lot of the reasons customers liked Borders in the first place - most likely to have something obscure you can't get in a discount store- are disappearing. I like my job, but this is worrying...

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Thu, 09/16/2010 - 14:53

#26

Hans

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Many scientists do feel that 2001 and Contact are the two most scientifically accurate films ever made.

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Fri, 09/17/2010 - 16:22

#27

Hans

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About two months ago I had a horrible experience with Borders employees. I was looking for the latest issue of Horrorhound magazine which had been printed and shipped to subscribers a week prior. First, I called and spoke to the magazine guy directly who told me that he had never heard of it and that they didn't carry it. The next day I happened to be in the area so I stopped and took a look myself and right in front on the top shelf was the last issue. I then walked over to the woman at the register to ask if she could summon someone to help me and she gave me a dirty look and told me she was too busy. OK, I then walked to the back of the store to the help desk and asked the guy there if he could possibly look in back to see if the new issue had arrived but just had not been put out yet. He was even ruder than anyone else and told me that it gets put out when it gets put out and to come back in a couple of days.

Maybe if Barnes and Noble employees weren't always bending over backwards for me whenever I needed help with anything, including going in the back and bringing me magazines that I am looking for that hadn't been put out yet, I wouldn't have lost it, but I did. I was furious. I had the manager called up front and I let loose all my anger and frustration on him about the incompetence and rudeness of his employees. With unemployment as high as it is, if a person doesn't like their job and doesn't want to put forth any effort doing it then quit and let someone who needs it and appreciates it have it. There are two kinds of stores that I have always expected more out of its employees. Bookstores and record stores. I expect people to be friendly, knowledgeable and willing to help find or recommend things.

Anyway, I was so pissed off that I drove straight to Barnes and Noble to tell their manager how much I appreciated the excellent customer service so that I could sleep better. She happened to be brand new, just transferred in from New England. I can't remember how but we wound up getting into a deep and intense discussion about the film The Road and she gave me a nice rundown of how the novel and the film differ. She asked me if I had read it and I said it was sitting on my bookshelf but I didn't think I had the mental fortitude necessary to make it through it as just the film alone affected me on a pretty deep level for a few weeks. The first few nights after seeing it I didn't sleep too well. Every time she saw me after that she would ask me if I had started it and every time I would tell her that I had moved it closer and closer to my bed until it made it on my nightstand where it sits now. I was reminded of this because I just bought Let Me In a couple of days ago and she was very upset at me.

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