World domination?
Barnes & Noble is considering a bid for Borders, a move that (anti-trust considerations aside) would create a book-selling behemoth with a third of the retail market, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Since Borders put itself on the market in March, more than 30 people have expressed interest in the company, the Journal said.
What would the B&N/Borders combo mean here? In my neighborhood, the Towson-Lutherville-Timonium metroplex, I'd bet that "store closing" signs would go up at either the Borders off Ridgely Road or the B&N in Towson. Why have nearby stores that fight one another for customers? Ditto for the competing stores in Annapolis.
As for the local indy bookstores, they'd face much tougher competition from the new Goliath. We'd likely see fewer and fewer of the boutique-style stores that enliven neighborhoods and provide a break from the one-size-fits-all megastores.
Comments
As an indie publisher I find this news disconcerting, but I've lived in B&N's kingdom long enough to adjust. I think a lot of groundbreaking literature has moved out of the brick-and-mortar stores and into wood stores like Normals.
And other frontiers, too: anyone looking for a bookish thing to do tomorrow evening ought to check out Publishing Genius's literary salon at the 1818 Gallery. Michael Kimball, Jen Michalski, Ric Royer, and a lot more. http://publishinggenius.blogspot.com/2008/05/ive-given-it-lot-of-thought-and-ive.html
Hey, thanks for the adspace.
Posted by: Adam Robinson | May 21, 2008 2:22 PM
I'd like to think that there will always be a place for the specialty book shop. One can hope, I suppose.
It's really annoying that sometimes when I do go to B&N (not very often) they often don't have what I am looking for and it has to be ordered anyway, which defeats the purpose of going to a store.
Posted by: aeb | May 21, 2008 2:30 PM
Barnes&Noble sure is powerful. Since I am working on a buy books smartphone app as a Barnes&Noble affiliate, I applaud their market dominance.
Posted by: Buy Books | November 23, 2011 4:30 PM