You are viewing mariness

Previous Entry | Next Entry

Books a Million

  • Feb. 17th, 2013 at 9:35 AM
gottalovethepandas
Curious question:

Why, in nearly every discussion of the death/survival of brick and mortar bookstores, does Books A Million never come up?

Seriously. It's like we have either Barnes and Noble and struggling independent bookstores or nothing, always followed by worried observations that Barnes and Noble and independent bookstores are closing their doors. And nothing about the entity in between. And yes, I'm as guilty of this as anyone. And yes, the concerns about Barnes and Noble, based on their fiscal reports, seem valid.

But in 2012, Books a Million, according to their annual report added retail outlets. They took a fiscal loss for the year, but the report also adds that as a result of the expansion, they had their strongest holiday season ever, and their expectations for 2013 remain strong.

Now, let me be clear here: Books A Million is a lot smaller than Barnes and Noble is, and although I haven't seen any royalty reports from anyone, this strongly suggests that book sales through Books A Million are thus a lot smaller than sales from Barnes and Noble (let alone Amazon or even for some authors Target and Walmart). And I don't see, nor does this annual report suggest, that Books A Million has any plans to reach the size of Barnes and Noble or the late lamented Borders, and their annual report notes that they haven't paid stockholder dividends for the last few quarters. And annual reports by nature tend to at least try to give an optimistic spin on events.

But still, here you have it: a brick and mortar bookstore that is adding locations and unlike Barnes and Noble reported a healthy holiday season. Which almost nobody is talking about. I don't know what Books a Million is doing right (I didn't bother to comb through the entire annual report) and I have no idea what their position will be later this year. I do note they are selling Nooks, suggesting that they, too, have a lot of concerns about Amazon's dominance in the ebook market. But they are there, and growing, and I think they should be brought into the discussion.

Tags:

Comments

( 19 comments — Leave a comment )
dewline
Feb. 17th, 2013 03:39 pm (UTC)
Add in the successful rescue of Books on Beechwood in recent days up here in Ottawa - which I should have mentioned on my own LJ - and we might yet have hope for a future in which paper and e-books stand side-by-side mutually feeding and expanding each other's market.

Edited at 2013-02-17 03:39 pm (UTC)
| Reply | Thread
mariness
Feb. 17th, 2013 03:44 pm (UTC)
:: nods :: I'm more trying to point to Books a Million, though, as a successful retailer that isn't needing rescue from mysterious buyers or whatever, showing that yes, this can be done.

Barnes and Noble is struggling for a number of reasons -- as I was discussing with time_shark just yesterday, their Nook store could, um, use some work, and although they didn't go quite as nuts on prestige locations with expensive rents as Borders did, some of their locations are in pricier locations. I also kinda have to question their growing emphasis on selling things that aren't books -- it's anecdotal, of course, but in my experience people go into a B&N for coffee/hanging out/books, and once they've seen the books, they leave. I'm sure the other stuff sells, but I think having more books would keep people there longer, plus, at least locally, the Target in the same shopping plaza is selling similar or the same stuff, but not the books. Focus on your specialty, B&N!
| Reply | Parent | Thread
dewline
Feb. 17th, 2013 03:49 pm (UTC)
Points well taken.
| Reply | Parent | Thread
mariness
Feb. 17th, 2013 03:57 pm (UTC)
...and correction, Target does sell some books -- they have two rows of books -- but it's just a selection of the latest bestsellers along with some romance and Bibles. Not a place you'd go to find kid's books, for instance, even with plenty of toys and candy and kid's clothing for sale.
| Reply | Parent | Thread
dewline
Feb. 17th, 2013 04:04 pm (UTC)
This is part of why I'm less than thrilled with Target and Wal-Mart taking over all those former Zellers locations up here in Canada. Because, based on your comment just now, nothing's really going to change.

Edited at 2013-02-17 04:05 pm (UTC)
| Reply | Parent | Thread
nihilistic_kid
Feb. 17th, 2013 04:28 pm (UTC)
Depends on the Target. The local one has seven bays of books.
| Reply | Parent | Thread
dewline
Feb. 17th, 2013 04:33 pm (UTC)
Not sure that eastern Ottawa will be as fortunate, but I suppose we'll see later this year.
| Reply | Parent | Thread
mariness
Feb. 17th, 2013 04:34 pm (UTC)
That's pretty cool -- the two local Targets seem to have gone the grocery store, not the book route. I can definitely see some local variations popping up there, though.
| Reply | Parent | Thread
seawasp
Feb. 17th, 2013 03:45 pm (UTC)
Where are they? I've never seen them, only heard them mentioned by a few people.

As to what they're doing right, probably actually keeping books in their stores. B&N has been systematically reducing its books and increasing its "other" merchandise", and also being less and less accessible. I tried to just get a reading or signing in their local store three times, and nothing.
| Reply | Thread
dewline
Feb. 17th, 2013 03:49 pm (UTC)
Chapters/Indigo has been following a similar product-stocking strategy in their box stores, I've noticed.

Also, my writing workshop used to hold its meetings in the Chapters box nearest my house for years on end, but we slowly got unofficially and quietly "shown the door" in favour of the stocking strategies we've both seen at our respective national chains.

Now the workshop meets at one of the branches of the public library. A natural home, perhaps.
| Reply | Parent | Thread
mariness
Feb. 17th, 2013 03:54 pm (UTC)
:: blinks :: I know not all signings make the bookstore a lot of money, granted, but it's just a small space for a few hours with a decent chance of making money? Especially since you're with a large publisher that just seems so incredibly shortsighted. (Not saying they should ignore the small press, it's just, ignoring Baen? Why would a bookseller do that?)

Anyway, most of the Books a Million locations are in Alabama, Florida, and Virginia, but they also have locations in other states -- Pennsylvania, Texas, Illinois, Tennessee, New Hampshire, etc. Their website lists only one New York location, no California locations, and no Massachusetts locations, which is probably part of the "no visibility among writers" issue, but, with over 250 stores and slowly growing, they must be doing something right.

Along with keeping books in their stores, I would also guess that they headed to cheaper rental locations. In South Florida, Borders built a lovely lovely bookstore right on the Intercoastal Waterway which is prime, prime real estate even after the housing crash, and Books a Million built a large bookstore on U.S. 1 in Delray Beach which, no offense to the Delray Beach people reading this, was not nearly as nice or expensive of a location. I'm slightly cherry-picking my examples, granted, but, still.






| Reply | Parent | Thread
dewline
Feb. 17th, 2013 04:06 pm (UTC)
Yeah. Ignoring Baen? WTH is up with that?
| Reply | Parent | Thread
nihilistic_kid
Feb. 17th, 2013 04:27 pm (UTC)
It's a regional chain that sells lots of used/remaindered, that's the main reason.

It'll likely end up merging with B&N before the decade is out.
| Reply | Thread
mariness
Feb. 17th, 2013 04:33 pm (UTC)
Huh. That's a change in what they are stocking, then -- back when I was in South Florida and closer to two of them, they focused on new books, but that was admittedly five years ago now.

Not quite sure why it's classified as a regional chain though -- they do have locations in multiple states in New England, the South and the Midwest?
| Reply | Parent | Thread
nihilistic_kid
Feb. 17th, 2013 06:46 pm (UTC)
Because the great majority of its stores are in the Southeast. And it's only in about 30 states.
| Reply | Parent | Thread
mindyklasky
Feb. 17th, 2013 05:48 pm (UTC)
They may be increasing the number of stores, but that number is still quite limited (and not near major cities where people write about books (DC, NY, LA). Also, their Christian mission, and the limited inventory detracts from their being taken seriously as a national player, for many people.

(Grain of salt: They've never carried any of my traditionally published books.)
| Reply | Thread
mariness
Feb. 17th, 2013 05:59 pm (UTC)
:: nods :: Interesting.

I'm wondering if Books A Million has also radically changed in the last five years? I haven't been in one for about five years - they do have Books A Million in the central Florida area, but not in trike distance for me or on a bus route not requiring at least four transfers which I'm not willing to make for a Books A Million. But when I was last in them -- one in Delray Beach, the other in Sawgrass Mills, both in South Florida -- they had a Christian section, yes, but a pretty small one (the local Barnes and Noble also has a Christian section that's about the same size, probably because based solely on the number of churches in the area there's probably a decent market for that genre here) and an ok though not outstanding selection of genre books. (Both Barnes and Noble and Borders had much better genre and history selections.) So I wasn't aware of their Christian mission until your comment.

But what I'm seeing here from you and Nick is that inventory is going down and that they are moving more into selling remaindered books. Sigh. That sucks, if it is making their absence from the discussion more explicable.
| Reply | Parent | Thread
oneminutemonkey
Feb. 17th, 2013 09:11 pm (UTC)
I can't speak for the chain as a whole, but our local Books-a-Million has never been what I'd call impressive. We have one here in Roanoke, and the location is, to be kind, not prime real estate. It's located in a fourth-rate mall/shopping area, the store itself is kind of old and dingy, the selection has never been what I'd consider thorough or comprehensive, and the entire vibe is one of vague desperation.

BAM survives by aspiring to lesser heights than B&N or Borders. Cheaper locations, older/remaindered stuff, that sort of thing. Where Borders and B&N tried to control the market with huge fancy stores and flashy accessories, BAM seems to be a lot more modest and staying within their means.

Even when I was inclined to visit bookstores every chance I got, on a weekly or even more frequent basis, I wouldn't exactly go to BAM looking for anything in particular.

(Meanwhile, B&N has two huge, shiny, attention-grabbing stores, one on each end of town at the two "real" malls Roanoke has to offer.)
| Reply | Thread
mariness
Feb. 17th, 2013 11:51 pm (UTC)
That's rather how I remember Books A Million -- never impressive, never on prime real estate, never a great selection, although I don't remember dinginess or a desperate vibe. The coffee was decent and it was an ok place to hang out, and I did buy Christmas gifts there when I dared to do Xmas shopping at Sawgrass Mills, and I'd sometimes buy books and other things when I stopped in before or after watching a movie at the Delray Beach place. And those two locations at least didn't have a lot of remaindered stuff at the time, though from what everyone is saying that seems to have changed -- it looks as if the parent company also now owns a distributor that specializes in remaindered books.

The Barnes and Noble near me is shiny and nice but I worry: a significant amount of floor space is dedicated to DVDs, even with a Target and a Best Buy in the same shopping center both offering equal selection and better prices, which....does not bode well long term, and a significant amount of floor space dedicated to things that are not books. It is located next to a very well to do area, though, and it's about the only bookstore in the area other than a used bookstore, so I have some hope.
| Reply | Parent | Thread
( 19 comments — Leave a comment )

Profile

gottalovethepandas
mariness
Mari Ness

Latest Month

May 2013
S M T W T F S
   1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031 

View All Archives

Tags

View my Tags page

Page Summary

Powered by LiveJournal.com
Designed by Tiffany Chow