Barnes & Noble Education reported results for their fiscal first quarter, a seasonally “low activity” period. Sales keep falling — at $319.7 million, down $18.2 million from a year ago, or 5.4 percent lower. They registered declines across all three business segments: College stores, the textbook wholesale business, and their digital student solutions. The announcement celebrates that general merchandise sales comps rose 4.9 percent (gaining $5.9 million) — yet course material sales fell 11 percent (down $13.7 million) and trade book sales declined 11.8 percent (falling $1.2 million). There you have the essential problem of this entire enterprise. The net […]
