Franchise News
FSR Magazine: Can Restaurants Give Barnes & Noble a Boost?
After years of decreasing sales, B&N is experimenting with new, customer-attracting concepts.
By the turn of 2017, Barnes & Noble had launched three full-service kitchens at stores in the northeast, California and Minnesota. This latest experimentation is a direct response of the book retailer’s year over year dip in sales. The brand’s sales fell to $4.1 billion in 2016 from $4.3 billion in 2015. It’s also cut its retail stores from 691 in four years ago to 640 locations in 2016.
“Organizations need to challenge themselves to change, be creative, embrace new challenges and enrich their offerings. If it’s just the same old thing, they become stale,” said David Deason, the Dallas-based vice president or development. He says that the brand’s move towards restaurants isn’t that surprising, given that B&N has been operating coffee shops sourced by Starbucks products for the past 28 years. “We are the second largest coffee shop [in the U.S.],” says Deason.
The new B&N Kitchens will operate from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m., the same hours as the bookstore is open, and will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner.
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About the Author
Nick Powills
FollowNick Powills, CFE, founded No Limit Agency in 2008 and serves as Chief Brand Strategist for the Chicago-based firm. No Limit is a full-service communications agency that establishes and elevates brands by bridging Public Relations, Social Media, Marketing, Advertising, Digital, and a lot of creativity, to best strategize well-rounded and successful campaigns for 50+ global franchise brands. By presenting visionary ideas and building real relationships, No Limit is able to create effective media branding strategies to help companies grow. Nick currently leads a staff of writers, media strategists, designers, social media experts and digital producers in an office think-tank where brands are humanized for strong, compelling media stories. Prior to starting No Limit at the age of 27, Nick spent four years working at a franchise PR agency where he mastered the art of building rapport with media outlets and creating newsworthy pitches for earned media placements. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism from Drake University in Iowa.
