Borders Books went out-of-business a few years back-could Barnes & Noble be the next victim?
The bookselling chain has been closing down stores left-and-right and the head of the retail group, Mitchel Kipper said in an interview published Monday in The Wall Street Journal "the company will have 450 to 500 stores in a decade. That's down from about 689 currently."
Adding, "The chain plans to close about 20 stores a year over the period."
In recent years Barnes & Noble have been under extreme pressure from other online retailers and discount book sellers. To stem this competition they have been focusing on its e-book reader, Nook tablet and e-book business for a profit boost.
Trying to calm the storm, Barnes & Noble spokeswomen, Mary Ellen Keating, states that Klipper's remarks don't mark any change in its store closing plan.
"We have historically closed approximately 15 stores per year for the past 10 years. Some closings are due to the fact that stores are unprofitable and others are stores moving to better locations. " she said.
The interest part in all of this-though Keating claims the some of the stores closing are moving to better locations, in the past couple years not many new stores have open.
To refute this Keating brings up the New York store, "New York-based Barnes & Noble opened two new prototype stores in 2012 and plans to test other prototypes in 2013. The company's management is fully committed to the retail concept for the long term," Keating affirmed.
On the brighter side of things, they did open 674 college bookstores, but, according to csmonitor,com, "Its shares fell 15 cents, or 1.1 percent, to close at $13.02 Monday. They have traded in a 52-week range of $10.45 to $26."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
