News
Barnes & Noble Closes Stores in Major U.S. Cities
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
The bookstore chain Barnes & Noble began closing physical stores across the United States during and after a low holiday 2012 sales season. The company shut down stores in San Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Chicago, Austin, Manhattan, and Dallas. As of October 2012, the company operated 1,363 bookstores in the United States, including those on college campuses.
Barnes & Noble sales declined 10.9% in the retail trade segment in 2012, falling to US$1.2 billion in the nine week period that ended on December 29. The company attributes this to an 8.2% decline in comparable store sales, store closures, and lower online sales.
Nook segment sales also fell 12.6% during the same period. Barnes & Noble revealed in January 2012 that it was considering spinning off its Nook operations into a separate segment.
Liberty Media invested US$204 million in the bookstore chain in 2011, but ended its proposal to acquire the chain. After the bookstore chain Borders declared bankruptcy in 2011, Barnes & Noble acquired intellectual property assets from its former competitor for US$13.9 million.
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