Got a gift card from Barnes and Noble...
It's good I guess, I like that bookstore/coffeshop.
Problem is - its better competitor, Borders did that a lot before closing. They also did all the same mistakes that Hastings did and now B&N does also.
Mostly - KIDS...
Really we have 1/3 of the store walled off into some kind of Kindergarten PAYground. Only see kids there as part of school planned events. But 1/3 of the store where an adult can not go unless accompanied by a child or at least an employee. Really, let's say I got the gumption to read Peter Pan, Pinocchio or Winnie the Pooh as an adult, maybe buy a good quality hardbound deluxe book... And even later at night when its empty dare to sneak in to look for it - "Can I HELP YOU!?!?" suddenly an employee with a forced sh-t eating grin bothering you like you are Chester the Molester ready to put a bunch of kids into a burlap sack and take them away like Krampus should the rotten brats...
On that note, 'rotten brats' well another few isles beyond the kids section is devoted to TOYS. That's so adults can buy them as gifts I guess. Some neat toys, "Why didn't they have toys like this when I was a kid!?" Also stuff like gak and slime that kids love to THROW. I've found Gak/Slime all over books. But most are too juvenile so you only buy them if as a gift for a kid.
I also like the "Vinyl" section. Why spend 1 second on Youtube or at worst subscribe to GooglePlay when you can spend $20-$40 and load a plastic record? But Hipsters - the modern fake beatniks, fake hippies are programmed to like it, maybe it does sell, I sure hope so.
I do like the board game/rpg section but little time to play them.
Now, not being pessimistic - I hope B&N finds a way to keep in business. I'll go there but still support my local bookstore when they open up again and they might.
BUT - here's my advice/suggestion/plea
1 - unless it is doing REAL GOOD please DITCH the kids stuff. Really, I'm hardcore "Bohemian" who likes to occasionally sit at a bookstore/coffeshop with my latte going over notes on my latest novel - really fun having "Gak" thrown in there by a screaming brat and the staff is so dumb they don't even give me another one without me buying it, too busy talking to their friends.
2 - Get more Magazines. Different distributors. You stores use the same distributor now, and lots of stuff save places like Seattle are excluded. Work out sane deals so they can be in different regions. In my town we used to have a store that almost specialized in periodicals and it was nearly as big as a Barnes and Noble, tons of different and mostly short-lived magazines - they did pretty good but the owners retired and kids weren't interested in continuing. But I know you could get thrice the selection if you wanted to, like really all those 'arts and crafts' magazines that DON'T sell, all the "Christian" and Agitprop "Mann Coulter" piles of books gathering dust... You got the room even without messing with #1...
3 - more books. Don't bloat the sections, go for different books. Social, political in a radical sense, better tech section for the MAKE/STEM crowd. More scifi/fantasy that isn't excreted in the SHi-TOR - on that note... see next.
4 - Indie books - work with places like Lulu to make print on demand limited releases and direct to bookstore order. NO "Deal" required with any major publisher. There's lots of neat fantasy, scifi, literature that's written by people who were just turned down for no good reason or didn't bother to try after the 30th rejection but then sell a lot of books online. Give the tired, boring big publishers a run for their money. I'm not saying break the bank making someone's "Look mommy I maded my fiwst novel!" project go nationwide... But a few random printings, different ones different bookstores, perhaps print extra if a title starts selling, and if people miss it they can ask another one be printed...? Leave some "reading copies" marked as such that if ditched get sold cheap. Likewise books give royalties if sold but if stolen, dumped no royalty just issues with printing cost I'm sure can work with Lulu or other Print On Demand operations to make manageable.
5 - on the "Indie" please do be nice to "local authors" even if they don't sign up with major chains. Never asked at B&N but the other guys Borders refused due to not being part of a chain. I love "By local author" but only if signed with Tor or whatever - NOT.
