Do you still go to the Barnes & Noble bookstore?
Apparently not enough people do nationally.
Company executives told the Wall Street Journal they plan to close 20 stores a year over the next decade.
No specific stores have been targeted yet for closure.
In the East Bay, there are five Barnes & Noble stores. They are in Pleasant Hill, Emeryville, El Cerrito and Dublin.
If no new stores were opened, the 20-a-year pace over a decade would reduce the number of Barnes & Noble stores nationally by a third, the Huffington Post reported.
Since 2003, the company has been closing 15 stores a year, but they've also been opening more than 30 a year. Last year, however, Barnes & Noble closed 14 stores and didn't open any, according to the Huffington Post.
One reason is a steady decline in book sales. Print book sales have decreased 22 percent over the past five years, according to Nielsen BookScan.
If your Barnes & Noble closed, would you miss it? How can bookstores compete more effectively in this electronic age? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
