Aram Zucker-ScharffDec 29, 2022

I've seen a bunch of people sharing this and repeating the conclusion: that the success is because the CEO loves books t/f you need passionate leaders and... while I think that's true, I don't think that's the conclusion to draw here. The winning strategy wasn't love, it was delegation and local, on the ground, knowledge.

This win comes from a leader who acknowledges people in the stores know their communities and can see and react faster to sales trends in store...

https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/what-can-we-learn-from-barnes-and

What Can We Learn from Barnes & Noble's Surprising Turnaround?

Digital platforms are struggling, meanwhile a 136-year-old book retailer is growing again. But why?

The Honest Broker
Show threadIsaac RabinovitchDec 29, 2022
@Chronotope My take: in an era when you can buy every non-perishable thing online, there's only one reason for a brick-and-mortar store to exist: to curate the product. Independent booksellers figured this out a long time ago. Took B&N a bit longer.
Show threadAram Zucker-ScharffDec 29, 2022
@isaac32767 Bingo.
Show threadIsaac RabinovitchDec 29, 2022
@Chronotope I have to say that I find Gioia's dismissal of the cafe-in-a-bookstore concept to be glib and ignorant. Those used to be extremely popular, including the ones in B&N. But management neglected them, with predictable results.
Show threadCharles Roper
@isaac32767 @Chronotope I see it more as a dismissal of poor cafes, which most are in large chains. If they were to get in *good* restaurateurs and let them do their thing, then that could work.
Dec 29, 2022 at 5:18pmWeb