{"id":1289,"date":"2015-10-09T07:46:58","date_gmt":"2015-10-09T14:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/re-tales.net\/?p=1289"},"modified":"2015-10-09T07:46:58","modified_gmt":"2015-10-09T14:46:58","slug":"14-page-turning-facts-about-barnes-noble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/re-tales.net\/?p=1289","title":{"rendered":"14 Page-Turning Facts About Barnes & Noble"},"content":{"rendered":"

Borders and Crown Books have all but vanished from the retail landscape so if you want to actually hold and read this thing called a “book” that’s not on an electronic device, you’ll have to go to Barnes & Noble. \u00a0Even they have struggled to compete with the mighty Amazon, their Nook bookreader hasn’t sold nearly as well as the Kindle from Amazon. \u00a0Looks like they’re branching out into other categories (toys, for instance) to keep their brick-and-mortars solvent, and I guess there will always be people who want to grab a coffee and snuggle up to their favorite hardcover book. \u00a0Interesting that e-book sales have declined this year, so perhaps a revolution is occurring.<\/p>\n

No matter how affordable and convenient e-book readers have become, there\u2019s still nothing quite like strolling through the aisles of a well-stocked bookstore and flipping pages.<\/em><\/p>\n

If that\u2019s your idea of a solid afternoon, you\u2019re not alone. Despite panic over digital sales being the demise of musty-smelling books, e-sales have declined<\/a> 10 percent this year and publishers are increasing warehouse space to make room for tangible titles.<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s excellent news for Barnes & Noble, the most recognizable brick and mortar bookseller:\u00a0the company has stores in every state, selling<\/a> 203 million titles every year. Here are some margin notes on their past, present, and future:<\/em><\/p>\n

1. THEY STARTED WITH SCHOOL BOOKS.<\/em><\/h4>\n

Charles Montgomery Barnes decided to open a bookstore<\/a> in Wheaton, Illinois in 1873. A nearby college and public school created demand for textbooks, which could be easily restocked thanks to freshly-laid railroads. Barnes\u2019 son, William, took over in 1902 before moving to New York City in 1917 and partnering<\/a> with fellow bookseller Gilbert Clifford Noble. By 1932, their flagship Barnes & Noble store on Fifth Avenue was selling books of all kinds, though in a somewhat peculiar manner.<\/em><\/p>\n

2. THEY PIONEERED THE USE OF \u201cBOOK-A-TERIAS.\u201d<\/em><\/h4>\n

Long before the McDonald brothers imagined an assembly line for hamburgers, Barnes and Noble used their New York store to experiment with a revolutionary new layout. Customers in the 1940s would approach<\/a> an employee who filled out a sales slip; another clerk would package the book; a third would handle the money to complete the transaction. While expedient, the cafeteria-like flow and awkward division of labor never caught on.<\/em><\/p>\n

3. THEY WERE ONE OF THE FIRST STORES TO PIPE IN MUZAK.<\/em><\/h4>\n
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Muzak, the branded term for the serene instrumental sounds heard in retail outlets, was started in the 1920s by the Wired Radio Company of Cleveland, Ohio. Purporting to have scientifically-arranged scores to maximize the soothed moods of consumers, the business moved to New York in 1936. Barnes & Noble became an early adopter in 1940, installing<\/a> an elaborate speaker system that offered music, sports updates, and news. The tunes were also meant to offset employee fatigue by playing faster beats at regular intervals.<\/em><\/p>\n

4. A COLLEGE DROPOUT WOUND UP BUYING THEM OUT.<\/em><\/h4>\n

By the 1960s, Barnes & Noble had outlived its namesakes and began to entertain offers from buyers. Leonard Riggio was a part-time college student at New York University who worked at the campus bookstore and was frustrated<\/a> to discover he wouldn\u2019t be allowed to oversee its operation. He dropped out and opened a competing store, the Student Book Exchange, in Greenwich Village in 1965. The business grew so successful that he was able to purchase<\/a>Barnes & Noble\u2019s flagship (and only) store in 1971 for $1.2 million. \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

5. THEY SOLD BOOKS TO PEOPLE WHO DIDN\u2019T WANT TO READ THEM.<\/em><\/h4>\n

Not that they couldn\u2019t read\u2014they just preferred not to. When Riggio opened an 80,000<\/a>square foot annex near his Fifth Avenue location in 1975, closeout books were sometimes sold by the pound. This generic approach filled a need for customers who wanted books to fill shelf space<\/a> in their homes, effectively making them a decorative item. Buyers who loaded up were even granted use of grocery-style shopping carts.<\/em><\/p>\n

6. THE STORE WANTED PEOPLE TO LOITER.<\/em><\/h4>\n
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While newsstands didn\u2019t take kindly to people reading without purchasing, Barnes & Noble was an early advocate of letting customers stretch out and relax a bit. Riggio found the sales annex so large that it was easy<\/a> to install benches, telephone booths, and bathrooms, making it easier for people to linger. Although he received criticism from people thinking his stores would become glorified rest stops, Riggio was right: People would browse longer if you let them pee. He later added<\/a> armchairs, coffee, and cooking demonstrations. \u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n

7. THEY GOT ONLINE LONG BEFORE AMAZON.<\/em><\/h4>\n

Blood was drawn early and often when Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com vied for e-commerce dominance in the late 1990s: the latter even sued<\/a> the former for claiming to be \u201cEarth\u2019s biggest bookstore.\u201d While Amazon got the brunt of compliments for their pioneering Internet venture, they weren\u2019t first out of the gate. In the 1980s, Barnes & Noble tested<\/a> the viability of selling books via an online service called Trintex. An electronic shopping interfacefunded<\/a> by IBM and Sears, Trintex worked on personal computers and allowed subscribers to shop online. The service later became known<\/a> as Prodigy. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

8. THEY WERE THE FIRST BOOKSTORE TO ADVERTISE ON TV.<\/em><\/h4>\n