The café traffic also showed little sign of helping drive sales elsewhere in the store. In the kids' area, backpacks and other school merchandise were marked 50% off among the expanded toy aisles.

The same goes for the Nook area, which, despite displays of some Nook devices, was mostly taken up by an array of other items like yoga mats and Brookstone weighted blankets.Įlsewhere in the store, alongside bestsellers, signed copies and books sorted by category are more examples of mismatched merchandise: journals, toys, candles and diffuser sets, tea and chocolate selections. The CD and DVD sections, which still occupy a sizable chunk of store space, are often deserted and unmanned whenever I visit, most recently Wednesday night. According to the American Booksellers Association, a trade group representing independent bookshops, year-to-date sales through August 6 actually rose 5% among its member sellers.Ī visit to Barnes & Noble’s flagship New York store in Union Square may offer some clues. While it’s easy to blame Barnes & Noble’s troubles on, the fact is the book industry has been on a roll. The company is also operating without a CEO after it fired Demos Parneros, who has since sued the company in an ongoing nasty fight.īarnes & Noble's stock fell nearly 7% to $4.62 in midday trading, in contrast to its peak at above $30 in 2006. Its long-term debt level more than doubled, to $178.7 million from $84.1 million, in another worrying sign, despite the fact that Barnes & Noble in July extended its existing $750 million credit line through July 2023. Results didn’t worsen in part because the company has been cutting expenses. In fact, Barnes & Noble’s comparable sales have declined in 20 of the past 23 quarters, in sharp contrast to gains the retail industry has posted each quarter during the same period, according to Retail Metrics data.īarnes & Noble’s loss last quarter widened to $17 million, from $10.8 million a year earlier.

Comparable-store sales dropped 6.1%, extending a five-and-a-half-year streak of declines. specialty bookseller said Thursday that sales fell 6.9% to $795 million in the quarter ending July 28, hurt by declines in both its retail and Nook e-reader business.

Barnes and noble kindle