Ted Gioia writes about the recent turnaround of Barnes & Noble, which he attributes to the company’s new CEO and his love of books. James Daunt, who took the helm of B&N in late 2019, previously saved UK bookshop chain Waterstones, in part by refusing to take promotional money from publishers:
https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/what-can-we-learn-from-barnes-and
@corlin
as someone who once was in charge of a biolab (a manager with the actual "owner" of the lab above me, with great delegation skills) - this article makes me happy.
I have 3 sisters.
Two of them owned bookstores at various times. Both faded into obscurity. One because of a local zoning change. The other because of Amazon.
But they both loved books. Insisted that their employees loved books, and while alive were loved in their neighborhood.
It's a hard business.
@corlin
No. I'll check it out, thanks!
@rakshy
Have you heard this?
Encore: ‘You’ve Got Mail’ Got It Wrong
Who’s afraid of… Barnes & Noble? The now quaint conflict that inspired the 1998 romantic comedy.
https://slate.com/podcasts/decoder-ring/2022/12/youve-got-mail-and-the-fight-between-real-bookstores