Barnes and Noble Should Go Out of Business

When I was growing up, I used to love my dad's old books from the 1950's-1970's. He had boxes of them; books that he had read growing up, books that he read in high school, books that he read in college, and books that he read as a young adult. They were science-fiction, fantasy, non-fiction, and adventure books, and I loved all of them. And now that I am getting older, I have been buying books and saving books imagining that someday, my children will inherit these books and treasure them as much as I have. But that dream may have shattered a bit today after my recent visit to Barnes and Noble bookstore, as I now think that perhaps physical books and sellers of them should be replaced.

Honestly, I still read physical books and haven't made the switch to a Kindle, although I am increasingly fascinated and wouldn't mind doing so if anyone would like to buy me one as a late Christmas gift (Kindle DX, 9.7", $379). Mostly this is because I really like my old books, and a lot of the books that I buy are not on the Kindle yet. Even still, my experience at Barnes and Noble was so bad that I may just make the switch.

Barnes and Noble would not take any of my returns, even returns of books that I could see in the store, even though I was willing to take the lowest price of the item in recent months. They could have taken the books from me that I could see in the store, given me a sale price, and then sold it at full price, and everyone would be a winner. Instead, their return policy is so strict that I couldn't return my books there- instead, I'll sell them online at Amazon.com or Half.com, and turn around and buy more books off those sites too, thereby giving someone else my business. Barnes and Noble has no customer service- no one helped me find books and there were no reviews of books for me to read, both of which you can find on Amazon (see links on my site to link to amazon). Barnes and Noble has a poor selection of books- I printed out my amazon wishlist of over 200 books and probably could only find two dozen or so of them. Granted, I have a lot of obscure reads on my amazon wishlist- books like The Ganymede Takeover, The Warlord of the Air (The Oswald Bastable Series), or Lankhmar Book 1: Swords And Deviltry- but still, a lot of well-known authors and their books were unable to be found in this 'bookstore.'

Barnes and Noble needs to go out of business, so that people who currently do spend their money there will be forced to look at the alternatives, which will provide these customers with more selection, cheaper prices, and better service, all from the comfort of their own homes. This is tough for me to say, being a lover of traditional books, but such was my experience and thoughts today.