Monday, January 07, 2013
Barnes & Noble's CEO Puts His Foot in His Mouth
I've been thinking about this interview of Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch ever since I saw it back in late November. I stumbled across it again this evening and decided to post it here in hopes of flushing the utter stupidity of what Lynch said from my mind. It blows me away to hear the CEO of the largest chain of brick and mortar bookstores still in existence in this country say that he, personally, no longer reads physical books.
"I don't really read physical books that much anymore. I like to read digitally." - William Lynch, Barnes & Noble CEO
Keep smiling, Bill. Amazon might have work for you after you finish running Barnes & Noble into the ground.
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That might explain why B&N pushes their Nook so hard and seems to forever be shrinking the number of print books in their stores.
ReplyDeleteBarnes & Noble is devoting less and less floorspace to actual, you know...books than ever before. And the trend continues with massive amounts of floorspace allotted toward that electronic brick, the Nook, and all the covers, and other crap associated with it. Throw in all the puzzles, games, CDs, DVDs, bookmarks, toys, and other junk, and the stores hold fewer actual books than ever in the history of the chain.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't think that readers aren't noticing. B&N is pushing me right into the arms of Amazon because I can't find things locally that I used to be able to get my hands on...so why not order from the cheapest online source, and that's usually Amazon.
B&N also removed all the chairs and open-seating, so I can't physically browse the shelves for as long as I used to because there's no place to take a quick break from standing other than trying to find a chair in their overcrowded coffee bar thingie.
I"m not happy with you, Barnes & Noble. I can see the beginning of the end for you, in fact, because others are complaining of the same things.
I'm still mad about not being able to use the Nook overseas. Also, when I went to the physical B&N last summer, I had to browse quickly because there was nowhere for my mom to sit down and rest in the store.
ReplyDeleteI think the message is that readers of physical books are a very secondary part of the B&N business plan these days, Susan. We are tolerated...but they really would much rather sell us e-books and a Nook or two.
ReplyDeleteSo it's "move along folks, nothing to see here. Go to the Nook display or buy a game or two, if you really want to help us sell some high profit margin items and keep these doors open." And, of course, the doors are in ever more danger of being forever closed because these idiots are pissing off their core customers.
No kidding, Sam.
ReplyDeleteAs to your last comment, if Amazon won't take him, well, maybe he can become an.... I don't know.... vegetarian butcher?
I love the "vegetarian butcher" image, Cip. Another perfect job match for Mr. E-Book.
ReplyDelete