by ANDREA FRENCH Section Editor
Popular book store Barnes & Noble is closing approximately 450 to 500 stores within the next decade, said CEO of Barnes and Noble, Mitchell Klipper.
Barnes and Noble is the largest traditional retail bookstore that America has. Recently, the technology push is causing them to lose business. About two years ago the same thing happened to one of Barnes & Noble’s biggest competitors, Borders. Borders made a bad decision about 10 years ago when they decided to invest in CDs and DVDs just as the industry was going digital.
The number of stores that have closed annually in the last 10 years is around 15. Now the company is planning on closing around 20 stores per year. The reason for the store closings are because they are not doing as well as others, or they are moving to a more profitable location. The decrease in sales can be attributed to several causes, including advancing technology.
The majority of America is reading books in some sort of digital form, but Amazon has given all types of book sellers a run for their money. Many consumers say that what has saved Barnes & Noble so far is its new e-reader, the Nook. The Nook is a tablet that is very similar to the Apple iPad. You can read books or magazines, as well as purchase any game or movie that Barnes & Noble offers online. The Nook ranges from $199 to $229 in price, depending on the amount of gigabytes you want.
Amazon is also another cause of fewer sales. The website is one of Barnes & Noble’s top competitors, as they sell any book available at Barnes & Noble for a fraction of the cost.
“When Borders was still around, I would normally go to the store and make a list of all the books I would like to read. Then, I would go home and buy these books really cheap on Amazon or on my tablet,” says sophomore Catarina Santo.
Amazon has also developed the Kindle e-book reader and the Kindle Fire tablet, direct competition with the Nook. The Kindle was initially designed for e-reading, and as the Kindle became more popular, Amazon created the Kindle Fire tablet computer. This sells for $159, as compared to the Nook at $199, and the Kindle can do a slightly more online.
“I have a Kindle Fire at home, and I read all of my books for school on it. After reading on a Kindle or an iPad, I would never go back to reading a regular book, or spending a ridiculous amount of money on a paper book ever again,” says sophomore Taylor Zeni.