/lit/ - Literature

>>18294779
Didn't they capitalise on ebooks before Amazon kicked their ass? Also I remember borders having cafes

>>18294779
They partnered with Starbucks and expanded their brand, they also sell toys and games and have "playplaces" for children, the Borders bookstores I went to didn't have those. The goal is to create a place to socialize that also happens to sell books.
https://www.retailwire.com/barnes-noble-concept-stores-to-serve-beer-wine-and-books/
>>18295924
I didn't shop at Borders as much as B&N when they were around, but I don't recall the stores I went to having cafes, and I've been to three different stores. They definitely didn't have Starbucks franchising, at the very least.

>>18294779
The Philosopher's Cafe

>>18296138
Mostly digital toys. My Borders had Seattle's Best, but that doesn't attract the Beckys.

>>18294779
Probably name. Noble ignites positive feelings. Border and borders never ignite positive feelings, mostly negative or neutral.

I miss the smell of borders. It was a very particular musk. All the locations smelled the same.

>>18294779
>Barnesberg & Noblestein

I went to B&N the other day to buy random books and found pic related. On the first page there was a Star of David, in reference to who the book was devoted to.

>>18297220

>>18297220
The whole window at my B&N is white fragility and the usual black torture porn shit. Whole thing from one side to the other is just that stuffs.

So I’m guessing the white hate / look how evil whites are shit sells massively

>>18294779
They have a classy name, for starters.

>>18296401
Seattle’s best is legitimately Seattle’s worst

Real question- how do these stores continue to stay open when they have warehouse-sized floorspace and a precipitously declining business model? Surely they aren't making it all back on funkos, starbucks, and nerd merch?

>>18297691
>he doesn't know about Barnes & Noble's strippers

>>18297691
I buy books from bn.com because whenever I order from Amazon there's like a 25% chance the book arrives damaged

>>18297695
Tell me more, my friend

>>18297708
I'd still rather order a damaged copy off of Amazon (or Abebooks, etc) for $4 than B&N's website. Can I ask what kind of things you're buying? They never seem to have even the most basic things (NYRB books, for example) that I'm looking for.

>>18297230
Caplan is a hardcore libertarian
What did you expect

>>18297731
I just started because I was fed up with Amazon books coming with creased covers, but I know they carry NYRB since I saw the new Gaddis books in the physical store. (The Recognitions was one book that was damaged from amazon)

>>18297731
Oh and it's for new books. If I'm looking for $4 books I'll use abe books or just go to my local used book store

>>18295924
My mom still prefers her nook e-reader

>>18294779

I miss Borders. Got all my old Ranma 1/2 mangas from there 20 years ago.

>>18296470
I still distinctly remember the feeling of being in a borders, it was very inviting and friendly. I’ve had brief moments where I almost regain the feeling I’m libraries but it’s never the same. B&N feels crisp but very artificial. Like plastic wrap, if that makes any sense.

I imagine that the answer to this question has absolutely nothing to do with books and everything to do with their corporate dealings/business models or whatever the fuck. Anyway, the only reason i ever go into BN instead of ordering online is to acquire a meager amount of social interaction with a cashier, or on the off chance i might see a qt girl there. The chance of seeing a qt girl at BN is much higher than the grocery store, which is the only other place i go to really. Also there is the fact that I'm 6'2, /fit/ and highly masculine so me going to BN is guaranteed mires from qt's when most men who go to BN are, without getting into meme insults, frankly pathetic. Of course this only applies when i want to read a recent or socially acceptable book, since most books worth reading are out of print. But yeah i only go there for the chicks and to throw a little water on the fire of my mental health. Even though it seemingly does nothing in the grand scheme, the second law of thermodynamics still applies.

Even so, now that everyone has to wear masks in public, there is little to no benefit of me going to BN since i will not be able to see any qt girl smiles, and now that i think of it, i have maybe gone to BN once or twice since breathing in public has been banned. Yes, i can no longer see a qt girl's smile in public anymore, it's illegal, but it's more than acceptable for a girl to wear yoga pants suctioned to her pussy in front of any children that might see her. So this is one of the many reasons why i feel the need to start killing politicians and journalists.

>>18297638
That's hilarious when Starbuck's still exists.

>>18294779
Sell funkopops

>>18294779
Have all the books I needed for middle school reading classes for one

Also Barnes and Noble was always comfier. Borders served a weirder clientele where if you took a wrong turn on the way to the children's section you could end up in erotica or weird witchcraft shit.

I really hate them and am kinda disgusted how long I bought from them. They encapsulate everything wrong with the corporate world. The plastic as fuck interior designs larping as being "sophisticated" and down to earth. The burnt slave coffee. The horrible prices. The need to sell everything but books at a book store. goddamn. there's great local bookstores that serve real fucking coffee but unfortunately they aren't anywhere near me

>>18297691
Manga. The manga section at my BN has like doubled since covid.

>>18299833
thing is if you go to a local bookstore you will become known as a regular to the consistent staff, and that means you'll have to create a fake persona to fool them into thinking you are normal, and you won't be able to simply buy whatever books you want, such as mein kampf for an extreme example. in fact most of the local bookstores are even more pozzed and harry potter-ified than B and N itself, and even if you could find something as nonthreatening as the art of the deal, for example, the instant you buy it you would become labelled as a weirdo, incel, bad person, etc, by the staff.

>>18297230
>>18298548
I dunno.

>>18299868
You're a faggot. I buy whatever I want. Staff doesn't notice, let alone care.

>>18299868
Unless you go to a bookstore daily/regularly chat up the employees I don't know why they would know you or care, or why you would care.

>>18299868
who gives a fuck what a wagie thinks? lmao

Borders was very slow to get on-line.
A lot of people here are too young to remember, but once upon a time if you tried to buy a book from Borders's webpage, it redirected you to Amazon. Literally.

So, if you're asking why B&N still exists where Borders doesn't, a really simplistic answer is B&N didn't redirect customers to a competitor for like a decade straight. lol

>>18299868
And? Either they let you shop there, no problem, or they don't, in which case you're right back where you are now but got some books out of it.

>>18299868
If you seriously think like this you absolutely need to take a few years off from the internet and just breathe outside air for once.

>>18299891
well the people who work at the gas station i get my butts at know who i am and one of them even knows my sister somehow (who i'm estranged from) and tried talking to me about her and at least one girl at the liquor store knows i have some kind of problem and i asked her if they had any mead once because i wanted to try mead since it's the nectar of the gods and then she told me on a separate occasion about how they got new mead in, i mean fuck just leave me alone i don't want to be your friend... i assume with something like books it would be even worse since books are so personal.

>>18299891
>>18299941
I buy most of my books on-line now, but back when I did buy books in stores the clerk would always make some dumb comment like, "oh that's his best. I hope you enjoy it." I'd usually just say thanks and hope my face accurately conveyed the "I don't give a shit about your opinion, even if it is the same as mine" feeling I was feeling.

>>18299952
wow man you are a maverick man fuck people man you are on your own path man

>>18299952
nigger i bought knitting for dummies and a book about leather crafting and the girl at the checkout says "knitting and leathercrafting huh?" with this dumbfounded look and you know what i fucking said? "y-yeah, leveling up my crafting skill haha" fuck i'm cringing just thinking about it. this is why you just fucking order online.

>>18299788
>Also there is the fact that I'm 6'2, /fit/ and highly masculine so me going to BN is guaranteed mires from qt's when most men who go to BN are, without getting into meme insults, frankly pathetic.
That's because the other men at B&N are all gay and I can confirm that because I'm a man and had a fling with another man who I met at B&N. For the lone, masculine straight man at the B&N, you're just sliding down the path of least resistance.

>>18299971
>"y-yeah, leveling up my crafting skill haha"
You rolled a zero on that D20

>>18296417
Trash opinion. Fuck off.

>>18299788
Not even worth the ctrl-p. Fuck off and die.

>>18299999
Quints don't lie

>>18299868
why would you care what wagies think of you?