Once considered a relic in the age of online retail, Barnes & Noble is seeing a surprising resurgence, fueled by young readers and a return to book-focused stores. The nation’s largest bookstore chain plans to open 60 new locations this year.
According to Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt, the turnaround stems from a renewed focus on curating compelling bookstores and empowering local staff to tailor inventory to their communities. Speaking with CNN’s Richard Quest at a store on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Daunt said the company has embraced a model that emphasizes books over other retail items and invests in both employees and the store environment.
“What we're finding is we have this extraordinary strength amongst young people reading,” Daunt said. “They're reading the classics, they're also reading fantasy, romantasy, whatever’s trending — and they’re not abandoning literature either.”
Once criticized for its inability to compete with Amazon, Barnes & Noble has restructured its stores to offer something the internet can’t: a tactile, curated, community-driven experience. Local staff choose which books to promote and how to organize their space — an approach that differs from store to store.
“It’s about the alchemy in the store,” Daunt said. “The friendliness of the space, the welcome you get, how we curate a table or a staff pick shelf. That’s very local.”
While online retailers still dominate with fast delivery, Daunt said Barnes & Noble thrives on discovery and social interaction, offering an experience that can’t be replicated digitally. Popular titles are still sold, but technical manuals and niche references are increasingly left to online platforms.
“People want to come in and have the serendipity of discovering and embracing books — and doing it with other people,” he said.
Despite predictions of collapse, both big chains and independent bookstores are now thriving alongside one another. And with bookstores becoming gathering spaces for communities, from kids after school to adults in the evening, Daunt believes Barnes & Noble has reestablished its place in American culture.
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