Books a Million
Curious question:
Why, in nearly every discussion of the death/survival of brick and mortar bookstores, does Books A Million never come up?
Seriously. It's like we have either Barnes and Noble and struggling independent bookstores or nothing, always followed by worried observations that Barnes and Noble and independent bookstores are closing their doors. And nothing about the entity in between. And yes, I'm as guilty of this as anyone. And yes, the concerns about Barnes and Noble, based on their fiscal reports, seem valid.
But in 2012, Books a Million, according to their annual report added retail outlets. They took a fiscal loss for the year, but the report also adds that as a result of the expansion, they had their strongest holiday season ever, and their expectations for 2013 remain strong.
Now, let me be clear here: Books A Million is a lot smaller than Barnes and Noble is, and although I haven't seen any royalty reports from anyone, this strongly suggests that book sales through Books A Million are thus a lot smaller than sales from Barnes and Noble (let alone Amazon or even for some authors Target and Walmart). And I don't see, nor does this annual report suggest, that Books A Million has any plans to reach the size of Barnes and Noble or the late lamented Borders, and their annual report notes that they haven't paid stockholder dividends for the last few quarters. And annual reports by nature tend to at least try to give an optimistic spin on events.
But still, here you have it: a brick and mortar bookstore that is adding locations and unlike Barnes and Noble reported a healthy holiday season. Which almost nobody is talking about. I don't know what Books a Million is doing right (I didn't bother to comb through the entire annual report) and I have no idea what their position will be later this year. I do note they are selling Nooks, suggesting that they, too, have a lot of concerns about Amazon's dominance in the ebook market. But they are there, and growing, and I think they should be brought into the discussion.
Why, in nearly every discussion of the death/survival of brick and mortar bookstores, does Books A Million never come up?
Seriously. It's like we have either Barnes and Noble and struggling independent bookstores or nothing, always followed by worried observations that Barnes and Noble and independent bookstores are closing their doors. And nothing about the entity in between. And yes, I'm as guilty of this as anyone. And yes, the concerns about Barnes and Noble, based on their fiscal reports, seem valid.
But in 2012, Books a Million, according to their annual report added retail outlets. They took a fiscal loss for the year, but the report also adds that as a result of the expansion, they had their strongest holiday season ever, and their expectations for 2013 remain strong.
Now, let me be clear here: Books A Million is a lot smaller than Barnes and Noble is, and although I haven't seen any royalty reports from anyone, this strongly suggests that book sales through Books A Million are thus a lot smaller than sales from Barnes and Noble (let alone Amazon or even for some authors Target and Walmart). And I don't see, nor does this annual report suggest, that Books A Million has any plans to reach the size of Barnes and Noble or the late lamented Borders, and their annual report notes that they haven't paid stockholder dividends for the last few quarters. And annual reports by nature tend to at least try to give an optimistic spin on events.
But still, here you have it: a brick and mortar bookstore that is adding locations and unlike Barnes and Noble reported a healthy holiday season. Which almost nobody is talking about. I don't know what Books a Million is doing right (I didn't bother to comb through the entire annual report) and I have no idea what their position will be later this year. I do note they are selling Nooks, suggesting that they, too, have a lot of concerns about Amazon's dominance in the ebook market. But they are there, and growing, and I think they should be brought into the discussion.