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In a last-ditch attempt to get you back to a bookstore for the first time since the early 2000s, Barnes and Noble has announced it plans to start selling beer and wine at its locations some time during the coming fiscal year.
Decimated by online shopping, e-books and people’s general disdain for reading, Barnes and Noble is just one of the many bookstore chains hit hard in recent years. Recognizing that it needs some quick-trick to lure buyers off of Amazon and into brick-and-mortar stores, it realized it had to sell more than cute calendars for grandma and coffee and muffins. The obvious answer? Beer and wine. Who doesn’t love beer and wine?
From CNN Money:
Barnes & Noble announced Thursday that it planned to open four new concept stores this fiscal year that will have an expanded food menu — and also serve beer and wine. But no vodka. Sorry, Chelsea Handler.
The first store will open in Eastchester, NY in October. Three more are set to open at the Edina Galleria in Edina, MN, the Palladio in Folsom, CA, and at One Loudon in Loudon, VA.
Barnes & Noble (BKS) stock rose 8% Thursday and was even up slightly Friday on the news.
Stock rose 8 percent? Holy shit. I guess some investors are buying into the idea.
Apparently, Barnes and Noble is the only successful bookstore chain still around. Remember Borders? And by successful, I mean not totally hemorrhaging money on a consistent basis.
Would you go to a bookstore if you knew you could drink there? I guess it’s a good idea. I think public libraries should do the same thing. The only way we are going to curb illiteracy in this country is by getting people drunk enough to want to read.
The next move for Barnes and Noble should be expanding its alcohol selection, followed by the addition of TVs and live music and, ultimately, getting rid of all of the books. OK, perfect. Now it’s a bar.
Who knows if this whole new bookstore concept will work, but it’s definitely worth a shot. I could be down to drink some red wine while reading some Hemingway or Faulkner or King. Kudos for the ingenuity..
[via CNN Money]
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I feel like this only works if they categorize the books based on how fucked up you should be to really enjoy them.
Like erotic thrillers should be 1-2 drinks and Hemingway should be like an entire cauldron of beer.
Hemingway patrolled the Caribbean for German submarines during WWII while he drank scotch and caught world record marlin. Name one thing you’ve ever done that could possibly compare to that.
Parker Jammstein’s contributions to this page are a perpetual “swing and miss”
Perfect timing