Returning Indigo ceo Heather Reisman has given a number of interviews in recent weeks, pledging to return the chain to its core values and aiming to lift book sales to comprise 65 to 70 percent of the company’s revenue. “We will have a yearlong journey” in turning around the chain and “we will do this with our customers; books will move to the center.” That will reverse her own long-term initiative to remake Indigo as “a full lifestyle retailer.” The last time books comprised 65 percent of sales was the fiscal year ending in March 2015. She admits, “I was […]
Bookstores
Bookselling: More New BNs
Tomorrow the chain opens new stores in Marietta, GA and Salem, OR. Last week they opened their new store in Cheyenne, WY.
Barnes & Noble’s Hodgepodge Approach to Design Is Celebrated
We may never see actual performance results for Barnes & Noble, but the chain continues to flex a remarkable ability to generate glowing media out of the mundane. The latest is an admiring 1,700-word NYT feature on how the company has chosen to be aggressively inconsistent in the design of both their stores and their logo and branding. For one thing, it saves money: CEO James Daunt says, “We don’t have any architect doing our design at any stage. There’s no interior designer.” A couple of notable details emerge. There is this: “The old Barnes & Noble had what Mr. […]
Tattered Cover Files for Voluntary Bankruptcy; Will Close Three Stores and Eliminate at Least 27 Jobs
After lengthy financial struggles that were often referred to but rarely made plain, the Tattered Cover Book Store’s corporate owner filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11’s streamlined Subchapter V in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado. If approved by the court, the bookstore will be able to access up to $1 million in debtor-in-possession financing, “provided by a newly created entity” formed by current investors and board members Leslie Rainbolt and Margie Gart. Immediate restructuring plans include closing three of their seven stores — recently-opened locations in Denver’s McGregor Square, Westminster and Colorado Springs […]
Bookselling: Two BN Openings
The chain will open two new replacement stores in California on October 18 — one in Marina Del Rey (in a former Amazon Books space) and one in Tustin.
Bookselling: New Stores
Solid State Books in Washington, DC has opened a second location, at 1809 14th St. NW. Barnes & Noble will open a store in Gainesville, GA in “early 2024.” Their last location in the area closed in 2013.