Barnes and Noble to open 30 new stores in 2023, and that’s not the only reason readers are celebrating

So far, Barnes and Noble is beating the odds of historic retailers falling foul of online commerce, much to reader delight.

For those unaware, the physical media seller best known for being the go-to spot to pick up a new book in communities where they operate recently announced the intention to open 30 new stores this year. This would be the chain’s biggest expansion in about a decade and in a recent interview on CNN, company CEO James Daunt says this shift happened due to greater local autonomy.

“If you want to run a really good bookstore, you have to allow the bookselling team within that store … if it’s an independent bookstore obviously that comes very naturally because that’s who they are, but in a chain you have to give it to the individual teams, manager and the wider team and say ‘get on with it, do the best you can and do what customers want.’ Give freedom.”

Indeed, this has been the cornerstone of Daunt’s tenure since taking over the chain in 2019. At the time he began, they were perilously close to going under, like onetime rival Borders ultimately did in 2011. Daunt says in an Axios interview published last month he decided to give local employees power to lay out their stores how they wish, removed many of the items they previously had which had no connection at all to physical stories and, ironically, Daunt also told Axios he does not think a chain model works.

“All I’ve done is bring principles of independent bookselling to a chain and exploded the notion of what a chain retailer is.”

In the CNN chat, Daunt also adds part of the store’s prior problems were leadership with experience in retail and not selling books. He also reveals in the past they were sending back about 70 percent of all new releases they would purchase from publishers and now this is at eight percent. Readers are happy and, right now, Barnes and Noble is offering a pre-order deal hype is very high for.

Certainly, a retail Cinderella story for our times. Worth noting, too, is that customers who pay $40 each year can get a 10% discount on store and online purchases, a free tote bag every year, free size upgrades on café drinks, free shipping, and a new stamp and rewards system. Here, one stamp is earned for every $10 in purchases, and for every 10 stamps, you get a $5 reward in return. Bargain.