The Bookseller - News - Daunt reveals home truths about 'evolving' Barnes & Noble

He spoke of this being an "interesting moment", with B&N's situation "clearly evolving". In 2008, the chain consisted of 728 stores; by 2018, about 630 were left, but the company was "fast heading in the direction of closed doors...failing". This was not because of Amazon, he insisted, but because the stores were "not good enough", too "predictable and boring". Front-of-store had for years been arranged according to co-operative promotions paid for by publishers. Daunt ended that practice, and generally reduced the initial quantities for frontlist buy-in.

But he, too, closed stores, often the largest. At present, there are roughly 600, but B&N is beginning to open new ones - often to replace ones that had been shuttered - except these will have less square footage. The chain should grow by 30 stores this year, back to the number that existed when he arrived, giving booksellers "confidence that we'll protect their jobs".