Barnes & Noble has made waves once again recently, and it doesn’t look good for the flailing book retailer’s future.
They fired 1,800 people nationwide by cutting certain positions in an effort to save about $40 million a year. The mass layoffs were so unexpected that when longtime employees showed up for work, they were informed they were fired.
Anyone who has been paying attention could see B&N’s death long-coming as the bookstore has been grasping at straws in the last few years in an attempt to remain afloat and in the black. They’ve experimented with concepts such as converting a few locations into bookstore/restaurant combinations in an effort to get people to spend more time and money.
This past holiday season, Barnes & Noble was hit hard by diminishing sales, not helped by the fact that there was no smash literary hit for the year of 2017. (2016 saw the latest Harry Potter tie-in novel The Cursed Child boosting sales considerably.)
While Barnes & Noble may see short-term benefits of their recent actions, they have seriously disappointed their customer base—those who sincerely love books—and they may not forgive them. It may not be long before the book retailer goes the way of Borders.
Meanwhile, Amazon’s own experimental bookstores have been thriving.