Comments on: Economic Report #2: Books not so hot

by: Cary Coatney

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 23:24:53 +0000

Yeah - what is the appeal of LA area Border’s bathrooms to the gangbanger degenerate populace?

I mean, there’s graffitti everywhere you go but - I can’t figure why gangbangers love to hang out at a Border’s when they play hookey from school?

I mean, don’t they have enough books to play with at school?

Coat

by: Torsten Adair

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:35:30 +0000

Yes, and the men’s restroom on the third floor of my store was once listed on a gay pickup site. We kept the restrooms clean. Dunno about the homeless. Of course, McDonald’s has clean restrooms too, and look what they sell…

by: Michael

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:42:00 +0000

“Clean bathrooms” is relative. I know of at least one NYC-area B&N bathroom that is frequented by homeless people and/or drug addicts.

by: David Oakes

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:27:46 +0000

I am not saying you are wrong, but I am saying that a lot of your arguments in favor of bookstores sound a lot like the arguments made in favor of comic shops (over bookstores) that are constantly dismissed.

(Got us on clean bathrooms, though.)

Of course, Comic Shops are still here, too. Mostly.

by: Torsten Adair

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:44:52 +0000

I work for B&N, but this is unbiased analysis:
Borders does not have an online presence. (They partnered with Amazon, and will debut their site in a few months.) B&N has storefronts which synchronize with the website. We continuously offer to order a book in the store and ship it to another address. We accept returns from the website.
It is hard to browse books online. Websites generally do not recommend similar titles, only what other customers purchased. Bookstore employees, many of them bibliophiles, can not only help the customer find the book they seek, but also offer expert advice. Yes, libraries offer free books and expert advice, but the public doesn’t realize this. They come to B&N the day before a book report is due. They buy books they might read once and loan to a friend. And bookstores have better hours and better locations.
Barnes & Noble offers a wide range of product for people to purchase: cafe, books, DVDs and CDs, magazines, greeting cards, clean bathrooms…
I’ll start to worry when the number of new titles published each year in paper declines.