There is along profile in "New York Magazine" of the travails of Barnes and Noble and it's founder, Tom Hanks....err, I mean, Len Riggio.
Combined with a profile I read in the last few years of Micheal Powell, of Powell's Bookstore in Portland, I come away with an overall sense on the part of these two guys of....dismay, almost bitterness, because their life's work is changing beyond all recognition.
In Powell's case, he seemed to be grousing about how his lead in online selling was disappearing. There is nothing worse than being one of the firsts in a new trend, only to have others come along later who take all your ideas and run with them.
In Riggio's case, it seems like he is both protective of his book empire, while at the same time he seems to realize he himself is stabbing it in the back with his Nook. Meanwhile -- How dare others come along and try to buy HIS company!
Get used to it, Buster.
I lost these illusions long ago. I sold the hell of sportscards for about 6 years, but that didn't stop others from coming along and completely taking it away. (Lot of good it did them.) I watched comics self-destruct, Marvel go bankrupt, the number of comic shops shrink from 12k to 3k within a couple of years. I saw Magic become big, then small, then big again and slowly becoming small again. I watched pogs come and go within 6 months. Beanie Babies, Pokemon.
Lately I've seen both Manga and Anime become all but unworkable because of widespread piracy.
Such will be the fate of all content.
I don't think books are going to disappear. In fact, I think if Tom Hanks, (with the help of his chirpy little wife, Meg) were to rededicate himself to physical books, he could pull it off.
But you can tell he's fading -- falling away, jumping into a world where he's not only not the trailblazer, but rather late to the game. And he's doing it for the soul-crushing reason of 'business', not because he's terribly interested himself.
There's a reason I keep referring to the big boxes as dinosaurs. Because they are inevitably doomed. Probably sometime in next few decades.
I don't think any of the above products are going to disappear -- just the way they are sold. And small guys can sell small amounts. Dinosaurs need lots and lots of fuel to move their giant bodies around.
I'm going to try not to be standing underneath any of them as they topple over.
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11 comments:
Barnes and Noble could have stayed away from Nook and totally given up any e-book revenue. All that would have done is to give up that revenue. The nook is not going to be a major player and if they were smart they would shift their e-book model away from being a device specific one. Pretty much the same with Borders. Amazon will probably end up with a reasonable percentage of e-book sales, but even with them the long term roll of the kindle will probably be limited. In the end smart phones and flexible pad type devices will probably win out as far as viewing instruments go.
Retail companies come and go. Always have and always will.
"There's a reason I keep referring to the big boxes as dinosaurs. Because they are inevitably doomed. Probably sometime in next few decades."
"A few decades" is probably longer than either of us is going to be around either, Dunc.
I'm hoping to witness it.
Word.
You will be witness to the great extinction...right now the decline of the big box is linear. Within a couple of years the decline will be cubic and will then shift to exponential within a couple of years of the cubic shift...Then the small bookstores will come out from under the rocks, like the mammals did after the dinos expired, and rule the World!
The small book stores will be the carrion feasting on the rotting bodies of the dead big box dinosaurs, until they too starve when publishers stop printing.
RDC: Dunc will be dead by then! As such, we will all cease to exist as we are a figment of his imagination...
I figure by then, the singularity will have happened and I'll be downloaded into a machine.
It will be hard to hold to my paperbook stance once I can download books directing into my brain.
...directly into my brain.
Assuming I have hands....
A quick question: how about the board, card, and miniatures games? Settlers probably comes and goes quite a bit, and your staff is always super willing to jump in and help me learn more about a new game you just got, or an old one. I know those are more niche than books or maybe even comic books, but I also know your shop is so much more inviting than the other board game store on Oregon and I love writing my birthday wish list based on games I see in your shop. Are they enough of a draw that you could have more of those, with more diversity in mechanic and theme, to keep providing an edge over Barnes and Noble or even the other independent book shops? I don't know much about business (which may be obvious by now :) ) but just wanted to chime in with that appreciation, especially, of your shop!
Well, you know, I'm trying. It's fine balance of getting enough to interest someone like you, but also make sure that the product warrants the space. I think I can add maybe 15% more boardgames.
Card games are something that grow and fall, grow and fall. I try to adjust the space and inventory accordingly.
Miniature games -- I'm willing to try anything but Warhammer.
Warhammer -- I've talked about it before; ultimately it comes down to a no, can't carry it.
I'm convinced -- because it's been happening for 25 years -- that there will always be an alternative Game Store in town who I have to compete with; and if games aren't my Main inventory, which they will probably never be, then that dedicated game store will always get the lion's share of the business.
Sometimes there is a lull for a year or two, or a weaker game store, but someone else always comes along.
So what you're seeing in my store is games as a 'sideline.' I can't afford to plunk a huge amount into 'new' inventory, and then have a full scale game store come along and whack me. (Has happened twice before....)
If I had a space twice the size or more, I'd think about Warhammer, and Chess and such, but as it is, I can carry boardgames (stackable footprint; word of mouth marketing); card games (traditional for comic type stores to carry them.)
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