Barnes & Noble (Again)

I live just outside of Richmond and B&N has really started to carry less and less Civil War books. I can remember when some of there stores carried multiple shelves but I also have noticed that it is now down to 1 to 2 sections of shelves. I can remember some of them carrying multiple rows of shelves in the past. Some of the bookstores near Fredericksbug have great selections. I agree that it is an appalling statement of where we are as a society.

First, given the literacy of the populace at large, it’s amazing that we still HAVE “book stores”.

Our local B&N has a couple of aisles of shelves on “history” as well as shelves of “bargain books”, areas containing newly released works which often contain books that could fall into the “civil war” category and a lot of other books – mystery, fiction, the arts etc.

And, of course, there is the “coffee bar” which serves sandwiches, sweets and so many varieties and versions of coffee that it can bring forth a mental seizure trying to determine what one actually wants before the customers in the line begin to grumble. But the truth is, the interests of the buying public determines what the store carries although each store will “get something” for the purchaser when asked to do so – or at least I have found that to be the case.

On-line purchases seem to be the most popular venue for obtaining books. Yes, there is a wait, but if one has esoteric interests, the wait is just as long when you order from the local store and it’s far less of a hassle to sit down in front of the computer than haul oneself off to the bookstore. And, of course, the desired tome is frequently available in a used condition for much less than the price when new – and often in pretty much the same condition.

I fear that the changing nature of society will mean that a lot of interesting commercial enterprises, not just bookstores, are heading for extinction.

I have taken my 1,000 page analysis of Grant’s strategic vision, and have converted it into a book about teenage vampires of the Civil War. Who sparkle.

That aughta get some shelf space.

I generally agree with Ole and Stan. The in-store CW stock at B&N’s here in SE Michigan is dismal as well. Meanwhile, Borders, which is headquartered in Ann Arbor, has just posted its 11th quarterly decline and some surmise that the chain is on the ropes.

The upcoming sesquicentennial could be an excellent time to rekindle public interest, however I don’t see it happening, so far.

My impression from frequent visits to the big bookstores in Knoxville, TN is that B&N stores don’t carry as many history or ACW titles as the other stores.

The history selection at the local Borders is spectacular, with whole bookcases full of ACW titles. I’d say there are about as many ACW books on sale there as there are books on the whole range of European history. Same thing at the big used bookstore in West Knox, which has a section of ACW books that rivals the general US History section.

Down the road, by contrast, B&N’s history section is much smaller, and ACW titles constitute a much smaller percentage of what history titles they do have. Maybe it’s some B&N thing?

–ML

Eric,
The B&N in Jacksonville, NC carries a pretty good stock of Civil War books, but has a much larger section on modern military history; after all, the town is home to the largest Marine Corps base on the east coast. I guess that lends itself to our B&N having a larger history section, and particularly more military history.

However (and as an author you probably don’t like to hear this) when I buy books I normally don’t buy from the store. I usually buy used copies from Amazon or ABE because I can get them cheaper – sometimes A LOT cheaper. My wife and I are both historians employed by the state, so we can’t afford to buy a lot at B&N. Every holiday that comes around, I tell folks to buy me B&N gift cards, though!

Andrew Duppstadt

I am at a point where I have little to add to this. While I have no hard numbers, I can say that our sales haven’t gone down as much as other retailers, but I would say most of those sales are the Twilight books and other crap that is hot now. However, our store has also sold six copies of Michael Burlingame’s two-volume biography of Lincoln (five at full price, one at 30 percent off thanks to my employee discount). We are getting most of the new titles coming out but our backlist is stuck in the same rut. I have the authority to bring in titles that our buyers seem to miss but as I’ve said before, they are usually coded for return very quickly. The only thing I can suggest to anyone is to ask for the store manager and give them SPECIFIC titles you would like to see in the store. Saying to them that you need to expand your Civil War section will fall on deaf ears. But it also needs to be done by several people because if a store gets one person asking about a book the bookseller will suggest ordering it, because the company discourages speculative ordering by stores as it adds to the cost of doing business.

Truthfully I don’t see much that can be done on a large scale. You need to keep going to your store and keep asking them why they don’t have a specific book in stock and that you think they could expand their sales if they kept the title in stock. Some managers will listen, others won’t.

Barnes and Noble remains the largest bookseller in the world, but we are also in the business of selling discount cards (drummed into our heads at every store meeting all the time), collecting e-mail addresses (so we can send coupons and try to bring more people into the store to buy member’s cards) and selling gift products and coffee (because too many people aren’t deciding to buy books instead of groceries or paying the bills). What I’m trying to sarcastically say is that most managers are under pressure to sell several things other than books that make the store far more money, so while they might be polite and say they will do all they can to satisfy you, bringing in books on the possibility that they might sell someday down the road is unlikely to happen. Right now, vampires sell to a far larger audience than history titles do. More’s the pity.

Eric,

Never really liked B&N as its history title selection was always inferior to Borders, and it was always a tad more expensive. But I have noticed the trend you mention at both stores, and have to believe that it is due in large part to internet sales.

Both companies took off in the late 80s – early 90s when internet sales were low, and it made sense from a marketing standpoint to have a broad assortment of titles on your shelf that other book stores did not carry. However, even B&N and Borders did not carry everything, and I have recent memories of ordering books at Borders and waiting a month to pick them up.

Now, while I still like leafing through a book before making a large purchase, I do most of my shopping online. If I want to know more about a book before buying it, I can go to a book review blog, and in many instances, actually see the table of contents and a few pages of text. If I want to peruse new books, I go to Amazon, type in a topic of interest, and sort by date of publication. When I order a book, it comes directly to my mailbox, sometimes in less than a week. What’s more, with services like Bookfinder4U, I can search multiple bookstores, and set an alert when the price falls within the range I can afford, which is particularly useful for out of print books or books that I would like to buy at the right price, but are not on my “must have” list. Thus, I would estimate that, of the 50 – 75 books I purchase a year, no more than 5 are purchased at an actual bookstore.

If this represents the typical history buff, I can see why B&N and Borders are reducing their history shelves. If there average customer is there to drink a latte and pick up a book on the historical topic “du jour,” why clutter your shelves with serious history?

Chris

Ian,
Actually, BN has a policy in stores that if you have four or more copies of a title, it must be faced out. Can’t speak for Borders though.

Best
Rob