I'm told that Barnes and Noble has renewed their lease at the Forum Shopping Center. Yes, that was my big surprise. I know it was a rumor for a long time they would be leaving in October.
At least the people who actually were affected by it seemed to believe it was a possibility; the store is apparently no longer the high performer it was when it started.
I must say, I always thought it was kind of unlikely. Thing is, the people at Barnes and Noble apparently thought it was possible.
Meanwhile, the Bookmark, my wife's store, will beat last year for September. That will be 7 months out of the last 9.
After 8 straight years of improvements, we did have a down period last year, and I really think a lot of it was the all the publicity about e-books.
Which seems to have died off somewhat. I mean, people still talk about it, but it isn't the central subject it was there for awhile.
So, anyway, I wanted to address the digital divide.
My feeling has always been that some people would buy an e-book reader and some people wouldn't.
But I also thought that among those who bought a Nook or a Kindle, some people would use it exclusively, and some people would buy both physical books and e-books, and some would actually come back to books.
That is, I've never thought e-books were going to win the entire market. I still don't. I think there is going to be room for bookstores for the foreseeable future. Indeed, I think we may even gain a little marketshare as Barnes and Nobles busily makes itself obsolete.
I've been amazed by the digital inablers -- from publishers to bookstores. They didn't even fight it.
I'm sure it was because they were fighting the "last war"; they looked at what happened to the music industry and drew the wrong conclusions.
That gives those of us who are still true believers in book/books a chance to pick up those who still want them. Keep the faith, my friend.
At least the people who actually were affected by it seemed to believe it was a possibility; the store is apparently no longer the high performer it was when it started.
I must say, I always thought it was kind of unlikely. Thing is, the people at Barnes and Noble apparently thought it was possible.
Meanwhile, the Bookmark, my wife's store, will beat last year for September. That will be 7 months out of the last 9.
After 8 straight years of improvements, we did have a down period last year, and I really think a lot of it was the all the publicity about e-books.
Which seems to have died off somewhat. I mean, people still talk about it, but it isn't the central subject it was there for awhile.
So, anyway, I wanted to address the digital divide.
My feeling has always been that some people would buy an e-book reader and some people wouldn't.
But I also thought that among those who bought a Nook or a Kindle, some people would use it exclusively, and some people would buy both physical books and e-books, and some would actually come back to books.
That is, I've never thought e-books were going to win the entire market. I still don't. I think there is going to be room for bookstores for the foreseeable future. Indeed, I think we may even gain a little marketshare as Barnes and Nobles busily makes itself obsolete.
I've been amazed by the digital inablers -- from publishers to bookstores. They didn't even fight it.
I'm sure it was because they were fighting the "last war"; they looked at what happened to the music industry and drew the wrong conclusions.
That gives those of us who are still true believers in book/books a chance to pick up those who still want them. Keep the faith, my friend.