Barns and Noble

Just wondering if you have preference in how you purchase books? In the last 2 years I've purchased primarily via E-Book. Then I started thinking, was this a wise decision? Would it be better to spread the wealth around and purchase some books from independent stores too? What are your thoughts? Are brick-and-mortar stores important to maintain / support or as long as you can find it via E-Book it doesn't matter.

i still like going to an actual book store. there is an awesome store in jackson, california that has thousands of books. i used to spend hours in there.

I'm not dead set against online book retailers. Their dominance comes from decidedly exercising a business model with efficiencies that trump those of their competitors -- and who can really hold that against them? And from a consumer standpoint, their prices and depth of inventory are a Godsend, particularly if they deal in used stock.

That said, I do think brick-and-mortar shops offer something darned-near impossible for online retailers to furnish: A visceral experience. There's just something unmatched about finding a cozy old bookstore, perhaps with rickety wooden floors, an attached café, and an aloof cat lying around, and getting lost for hours in forgotten volumes that just happen to catch your eye. And if those outlets host things like book discussion groups, readings, open mic performances by up-and-coming local talent, etc., they can become extraordinarily nurturing cultural disseminators in a given community. I think that sort of thing is reason alone that brick-and-mortars remain a local asset.

[Edited 1/28/13 17:15pm]

brick & mortar, where else would one go for random anon bjs?

There is a locally owned bookstore in the lakeview area of chicago that I go to. Honestly I consider chain bookstores just the same as e books. I try to help the neighborhood.

Lammastide said:

I'm not dead set against online book retailers. Their dominance comes from decidedly exercising a business model with efficiencies that trump those of their competitors -- and who can really hold that against them? And from a consumer standpoint, their prices and depth of inventory are a Godsend, particularly if they deal in used stock.

That said, I do think brick-and-mortar shops offer something darned-near impossible for online retailers to furnish: A visceral experience. There's just something unmatched about finding a cozy old bookstore, perhaps with rickety wooden floors, an attached café, and an aloof cat lying around, and getting lost for hours in forgotten volumes that just happen to catch your eye. And if those outlets host things like book discussion groups, readings, open mic performances by up-and-coming local talent, etc., they can become extraordinarily nurturing cultural disseminators in a given community. I think that sort of thing is reason alone that brick-and-mortars remain a local asset.

[Edited 1/28/13 17:15pm]

I agree, a bookstore is something to do and an opportunity to find something unexpected.

Online shopping is great when you know what you want and don't want to mess around with finding it or going out into the world.

I would certainly hope that real bookstores (or any kind of store) don't go away, but online shopping definitely has its place

NDRU said:

Lammastide said:

I'm not dead set against online book retailers. Their dominance comes from decidedly exercising a business model with efficiencies that trump those of their competitors -- and who can really hold that against them? And from a consumer standpoint, their prices and depth of inventory are a Godsend, particularly if they deal in used stock.

That said, I do think brick-and-mortar shops offer something darned-near impossible for online retailers to furnish: A visceral experience. There's just something unmatched about finding a cozy old bookstore, perhaps with rickety wooden floors, an attached café, and an aloof cat lying around, and getting lost for hours in forgotten volumes that just happen to catch your eye. And if those outlets host things like book discussion groups, readings, open mic performances by up-and-coming local talent, etc., they can become extraordinarily nurturing cultural disseminators in a given community. I think that sort of thing is reason alone that brick-and-mortars remain a local asset.

[Edited 1/28/13 17:15pm]

I agree, a bookstore is something to do and an opportunity to find something unexpected.

Online shopping is great when you know what you want and don't want to mess around with finding it or going out into the world.

I would certainly hope that real bookstores (or any kind of store) don't go away, but online shopping definitely has its place

Unfortunately, it appears the biggest brick and mortar bookstore chain is downsizing.

http://www.latimes.com/bu...1045.story

A third of Barnes & Noble stores may close in next decade, report says

Barnes & Noble will shut up to a third of its brick-and-mortar bookstores over the next decade as reading habits change and digital publications evolve, according to a new report.

The chain will end up with 450 to 500 stores in 10 years, down from the 689 physical stores it has now, according to Mitchell Klipper, chief executive of Barnes & Noble's retail group.

That evens out to about 20 stores shuttered yearly over the period, Klipper said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. Over the last decade, Barnes & Noble has balanced an average annual closing rate of 15 stores with 30 openings each year through 2009.

"Of that number, some of the stores are unprofitable while others are relocations to better properties," spokeswoman Mary Ellen Keating said of the closures.

Since then, however, the growth rate has shriveled, with the company opening just two stores this fiscal year. Klipper told the Journal that the smaller physical footprint is "a good business model."

“You have to adjust your overhead, and get smart with smart systems," he said. "Is it what it used to be when you were opening 80 stores a year and dropping stores everywhere? Probably not. It's different. But every business evolves."

Since I've gotten my Kindle Fire, E-books...pretty much. However, I have been making a deliberate effort to get the hardcovers via brick & mortar and online, of my all-time favorite books to fill the shelves of my study.

E-books just haven't grabbed me. I like to hold books and I like them on the shelf. I like to have something more than a file after I've paid it (downloading for free is something different). I love the tactile feelings involved with holding a book and turning actual paper pages. It's almost romantic for me. Can't do any of that with e-books.

I don't, however, carry any other electronic devices with me on a regular basis, short of a laptop, and that goes in the same bag whatever book I'm reading goes in. So for me there is no advantage to reading e-books or disadvantages to carrying around a hard copy.

I have started buying more and more books online, though. You can buy nearly every book ever printed, unless it's rare or collectible, for a fraction of the price you'd find it at in a bookstore, new or used.

However, I do still go to both new and used bookstores (including a Barnes & Noble), as well as thrift stores to buy books.

As far as finding new things in bookstores goes, I love scouring the dark, dusty shelves looking for something I didn't know I had to have. But most online shopping sites will recommend new and different books to you based on your browsing and buying habbits. I've found just as much that way as I have getting lost in brick and mortar stores.

I do hope that brick and mortar bookstores don't disappear completely. But at this point I'm more concerened that real paper BOOKS don't go away.

I still prefer to read an actual book...

I find it difficult to read from a screen, no matter how realistic they try to make the experience. I am typing this on my Kindle Fire- which I use mostly for Internet purposes.

I have borrowed a couple of things from Amazon's lending library... things that I wouldn't have bought.

I actually have a part time job at Barnes & Noble, so I hope they stay around for a while longer.

[Edited 1/29/13 3:33am]

13 of the last 15 books since I bought my B&N Nook have been e-books.

I LOVE going to the bookstore, but I don't love carrying multiple books around

with me when I take trips. An e-book reader allows me to carry hundreds of

titles without much hassel.

I think for a bookstore to survive, it needs to be an expert on books (something

Borders Books forgot to do), and also extend far beyond just selling books.

A coffee shop is a must, but also adequate seating. Customers should not have

to sit on a floor anywhere in the book store to enjoy going through a book.

Additionally, have a stage of some type for authors and musicians, etc. I feel

the same way for music stores. When people leave their homes these days,

they want an 'experience'. That's why Star Bucks with their boring ass coffee

has done so well--people get this 'urban chic' feel from a Star Bucks even if

they're smack dab in the middle of redneck-ass Alabaster, ALabama.

bricks and mortar first and forever. i love holding an actual book that won't die when the batteries go. but, i love online retailers too

I have only purchased 3 hardcover books in the last year since I got my kindle for Xmas.

And it's not a kindle fire; I wouldn't want to read on that regularly. I stare at a computer screen all day. I prefer the non-backlit, more paper-like older kindle.

I still love my book collection and the smell of old books and I will still buy books (the 3 I bought are graphic novel anthologies - you simply can't do that on a kindle) but I appreciate the smaller price tag and the lack of storage space needed with the reader.

I like both.

Brick and mortar - always and forever!

I'm an avid reader and I love going to the bookstore and spending time looking at real books. I read about 40-50 books a year and I highly doubt I will ever get an e-book unless I absolutely had to. Real books is where it's at!

CarrieMpls said:

I have only purchased 3 hardcover books in the last year since I got my kindle for Xmas.

And it's not a kindle fire; I wouldn't want to read on that regularly. I stare at a computer screen all day. I prefer the non-backlit, more paper-like older kindle.

I still love my book collection and the smell of old books and I will still buy books (the 3 I bought are graphic novel anthologies - you simply can't do that on a kindle) but I appreciate the smaller price tag and the lack of storage space needed with the reader.

I like both.

This! I have a nook, and I love, love, love reading on that before I go to bed. Reading on my iPad is a pain in the butt. The screen is too reflective, so I'm always having to screw around with positioning it. And reading on anything backlit too close to bedtime makes it hard for me to get to sleep. And forget reading on that outdoors.

There are still some books that I will buy in a physical format - basically, anything for which images are an integral part. But honestly, the only thing I've bought at a brick-and-mortar bookstore in the last couple years is hair magazines.

I've been gradually unloading my book collection over the last couple years, too. Some things I will definitely keep - books I've had since I was a kid, some collectible first editions, things I really enjoyed reading, books I got signed by the author. But mass market stuff? That's all being donated.

People who know me know I read. I don't need to have masses of books to create the impression that I'm smart. And with my allergies, I certainly don't need all the dust they collect.

Now, if the sellers of scripts would just get on the ebook bandwagon, I'd be set. I'd like not to buy any more scripts in physical format, either. Fortunately, they're getting easier to find in pdf format online.

Genesia said:

CarrieMpls said:

I have only purchased 3 hardcover books in the last year since I got my kindle for Xmas.

And it's not a kindle fire; I wouldn't want to read on that regularly. I stare at a computer screen all day. I prefer the non-backlit, more paper-like older kindle.

I still love my book collection and the smell of old books and I will still buy books (the 3 I bought are graphic novel anthologies - you simply can't do that on a kindle) but I appreciate the smaller price tag and the lack of storage space needed with the reader.

I like both.

This! I have a nook, and I love, love, love reading on that before I go to bed.

People who know me know I read. I don't need to have masses of books to create the impression that I'm smart. And with my allergies, I certainly don't need all the dust they collect.

Now, if the sellers of scripts would just get on the ebook bandwagon, I'd be set. I'd like not to buy any more scripts in physical format, either. Fortunately, they're getting easier to find in pdf format online.

THIS!!!

People who know me get the distinct impression that I'm an intellectual powerhouse of knowledge, so my Nook suits me just fine.

I'm a bit concerned because B&N is not doing well, and the Nook is losing money just as ebook sales at B&N are going up--so I'm not sure what the future holds.

I'm hearing that the e-ink ebook reader's days are numbered, but I just don't want to believe it. I HATE backlit screens and the eyestrain it puts on you. With e-ink, it's just like reading paper, and the Nook Glowlight or Kindle Paperwhite allow you to read at night with the 'paper' illuminated but not pointed at your eyes--again, natural reading.

Nook 2013 needs to increase its resolution to at least the Kindle Paperwhite's proportions, and I'll probably upgrade.

I also Rooted my Nook so that I have Google Android on it, and though I'm not in love with the OS, it gives me functionality far beyond a regular e-reader (Internet, calendar, etc.) which I seldom use, but sometimes it has come in handy, like adding information and shopping lists on-the-go, so I don't have to figit with my smartphone (I really HATE phones).

Overall, I use it to read, and it's a pleasure reading on e-readers. I've owned mine since Christmas 2011, and now actually prefer it most of the time to a regular book-- "touch dictionaries", word search, bookmarking, "sync to last page read", etc. simply make it more convienient than a paper book.

Overall, I think it's a shame that that tech savvy people consider these things 'transitional' devices. Hell, EVERYTHING is a transitional device except my scrotomizer.

I prefer e-books. I read more now than ever because of them.

e-book. I can slide dozens of books in my purse and take them with me wherever I go, with no more hassle then carrying around a notepad. I can get most books instantly. I never have to actually return a book to the library (it's a lifetime problem with me). I still buy books that catch my eye for one reason or another, to read at home. I do feel a sense of lose not having the actual book in hand, but then I have a ton of books I never even look at anymore just sitting around.

Another thing I love about my e-reader is that I can resize the type. It's nice to be able to take off my glasses to read at bedtime. And it seems like my prescription is never quite right for reading - I'm always craning my neck to see out of the right part of my glasses (on a computer, especially) or moving a book closer or farther away.

I like that the type on an e-reader adapts to me - not the other way around.

Why would I want to spend $35 for a book at any book store, when I can download it for my Kindle for $8? I've had my Kindle for about a year and half now and have read so much more in that time than I have in years.

A couple of weeks ago, I was interested in books on Zen. I found five that sounded good on Amazon that were completely free. My local library has one book on the subject.

E books all the way!

Genesia said:

People who know me know I read. I don't need to have masses of books to create the impression that I'm smart.

That thought has never occurred to me, probably because I know quite a few people with masses of books who are still dumb as rocks.

Cerebus said:

Genesia said:

People who know me know I read. I don't need to have masses of books to create the impression that I'm smart.

That thought has never occurred to me, probably because I know quite a few people with masses of books who are still dumb as rocks.

Posers!

Lammastide said:

I'm not dead set against online book retailers. Their dominance comes from decidedly exercising a business model with efficiencies that trump those of their competitors -- and who can really hold that against them? And from a consumer standpoint, their prices and depth of inventory are a Godsend, particularly if they deal in used stock.

That said, I do think brick-and-mortar shops offer something darned-near impossible for online retailers to furnish: A visceral experience. There's just something unmatched about finding a cozy old bookstore, perhaps with rickety wooden floors, an attached café, and an aloof cat lying around, and getting lost for hours in forgotten volumes that just happen to catch your eye. And if those outlets host things like book discussion groups, readings, open mic performances by up-and-coming local talent, etc., they can become extraordinarily nurturing cultural disseminators in a given community. I think that sort of thing is reason alone that brick-and-mortars remain a local asset.

[Edited 1/28/13 17:15pm]

It dawns on me that I posted considerably off topic. I addressed brick-and-mortar stores vs. online retailers, when the discussion was meant to be around a preference for hard copy titles vs. eBooks.

My preference is somewhat paradoxical, I suppose. While I very much love the physical engagement of flipping through a print volume, I hate actually amassing "stuff." As a result, I've browsed tons of books or borrowed them from libraries, but I've not bought any new material since about 2010. Were I actually inclined t o buy, I think I'd still go somewhere to browse a hard copy, but utlimately end up buying a digital version to keep. The exception would be out-of-print titles and art and photography books, the spreads of which simply aren't as breathtaking in digital formats most of us, including me, could afford.

[Edited 1/29/13 18:08pm]

Genesia said:

Cerebus said:

That thought has never occurred to me, probably because I know quite a few people with masses of books who are still dumb as rocks.

Posers!

For some reason your reponse made me thing of people who wear glasses with no lenses.

Empress said:

Both. I have physical copies of my favorite books but due to dwindling shelf space I have been using my Kindle for new books. I love the experience of going to the bookstore still. I must admit I haven't been going to neighborhood bookstores recently. I usually go to Borders or Barnes & Nobles these days. I like the total experience.

I’m probably going to make the move to some kind of e-reader very shortly. I used to very much be into accumulating books & liked the idea of being a crusty old man with bookshelves creaking under the weight of my collection but I’m now much more into having a simple, uncluttered existence and I think e-readers align very nicely with that.

Our Kindle broke, so right now I'm not e-reading anything. I do like it, though.

However, I like real books better. There's just something about holding a real book in your hands. It's like I can feel the author through the pages.

And with my collection of over 100 Louis L'Amour books, it's like I can feel the Old West itself. I hold these old, weatherbeaten books in my hands and I can feel the heat of the campfire.

I buy these books at Half-Price Books, which is an awesome place. I haven't spent $350 on 100+ books - how are you going to beat that?!?

But I also love going to Barnes and Noble. It's like a cafeteria to me - my eyes are always bigger than my stomach, too! I usually walk out of there with an armful of books.

Finally, my favorite bookstore of all time is Square Books in Oxford, MS. This place is INCREDIBLE. Check it out!

http://www.squarebooks.com/

RodeoSchro said:

Our Kindle broke, so right now I'm not e-reading anything. I do like it, though.

However, I like real books better. There's just something about holding a real book in your hands. It's like I can feel the author through the pages.

And with my collection of over 100 Louis L'Amour books, it's like I can feel the Old West itself. I hold these old, weatherbeaten books in my hands and I can feel the heat of the campfire.

I buy these books at Half-Price Books, which is an awesome place. I haven't spent $350 on 100+ books - how are you going to beat that?!?

But I also love going to Barnes and Noble. It's like a cafeteria to me - my eyes are always bigger than my stomach, too! I usually walk out of there with an armful of books.

Finally, my favorite bookstore of all time is Square Books in Oxford, MS. This place is INCREDIBLE. Check it out!

http://www.squarebooks.com/

my favorite bookstore of all time is powell's bookstore in portland, oregon. new, used books along with other items such as stationery. it's worth a visit if you are ever in portland.

XxAxX said:

RodeoSchro said:

Our Kindle broke, so right now I'm not e-reading anything. I do like it, though.

However, I like real books better. There's just something about holding a real book in your hands. It's like I can feel the author through the pages.

And with my collection of over 100 Louis L'Amour books, it's like I can feel the Old West itself. I hold these old, weatherbeaten books in my hands and I can feel the heat of the campfire.

I buy these books at Half-Price Books, which is an awesome place. I haven't spent $350 on 100+ books - how are you going to beat that?!?

But I also love going to Barnes and Noble. It's like a cafeteria to me - my eyes are always bigger than my stomach, too! I usually walk out of there with an armful of books.

Finally, my favorite bookstore of all time is Square Books in Oxford, MS. This place is INCREDIBLE. Check it out!

http://www.squarebooks.com/

my favorite bookstore of all time is powell's bookstore in portland, oregon. new, used books along with other items such as stationery. it's worth a visit if you are ever in portland.

If I'm ever in Portland, my son is going to make me visit set locations for "Portlandia".

Is "Portlandia" a big thing in Portland? Maybe "Portlandia" could film an episode at Powell's Bookstore and make everyone happy!

.

[Edited 1/30/13 5:43am]