Like many of you, my in-store shopping has been limited between store closings, stay-at-home orders, and general caution due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But while a lot of chains have been suffering because of this, for Barnes & Noble, there was a bright spot: it gave them time to adopt some of their new ideas and changes. The bookstore had to pretty much stay the course last holiday season because plans were already set far in advance. I recently visited my local Barnes & Noble store for the first time in months, so it was time to see if I noticed anything different.
Now, my nearby Barnes & Noble is on the small side, so perhaps there are more significant differences at larger stores.
The biggest change is the store layout. While at first things look the same, shelves are now arranged in an U or horseshoe shape instead of everything being in rows. The new setup makes little sections tables and displays in the middle of each island. So while I was used to cutting through anywhere to go to a different section, now I had to back up and go around. Also can’t see if there’s anything interesting beyond, as it’s almost walled off. I guess it’s made to make you feel as if you are surrounded by books. I’ve seen similar set-ups in other stores, but those three-sided areas were usually part of a wall and not in the middle of the store.
Here’s the manga section now.
As you can see, it’s connected to the graphic novels and gaming sections. Before, the manga section had several shelves back-to-back. I can’t remember how many shelves in total, but I believe seven book stands sounds about right. Best case, they added more manga, worst case, they took away some manga. But based on their current stock, I don’t think they took a shelf away, especially since there are more and more omnibus and oversized manga coming out. Like before, titles are in alphabetical order with an occasional title facing forward.
In that area, there was the Funko POPs section with most being available for a 2 for $10 offer. Rilakkuma, Gudetama, Tamagotchi, and some other Japanese and kawaii products were on clearance here. (More on that in a minute.) The table contained sci-fi (Star Wars and more) products.
Non-discounted Japanese-related merchandise was on a display across the way, with other toys. This stand used to be with Funko pops on the opposite side of the store, near the periodicals, café, and board games. I guess this allows for all “fun” merchandise to be put together in one area as now in that old collectibles section is books.
The discounted book section is now the “Book Annex”. Like before, stickers are placed on them to show the current price. The stickers are different: a red circle with the price a round number versus a $x.98 price in a rectangular sticker in muted colors.
Clearance items were in their usual spot as well as scattered in a couple of other places. Before, it was a red dot that indicated prices were marked down with signs saying what the discount was (30% off, 50% off, 75% off, $2). Now, each sticker shows 50% off. I have no idea if Barnes & Noble is going to mark them down further like they have before, but it does seem like a waste of money if they have to change all those items to 75% off or whatever. The clearance selection includes books, collectibles, stationary, electronics, and other miscellaneous, just as before. Before, some merchandise was available to buy online and ship to home, but now you can only do pickup of what’s available at your local branch.
There were some other sale items throughout the store including 30% off select Lego products, discounted bags, and buy one get 50% off the second on select books.
I saw a few signs advertising the Membership, including the current 20% off first purchase ad at the front of the store. I had heard rumors, but I purchased a clearance item out of curiosity, and I did not get an additional 10% off. It may or may not work on sale items. I haven’t checked but have seen mixed reports, but some people have theorized the 10% wasn’t working on sale items because of the pandemic. But people interested in the program may want to be aware it could soon only apply to regular priced items. There have already been other changes like the lack of coupons and the free shipping online being downgraded to standard instead of express.
So what do I think overall? Well, as I’ve mentioned before, I am not planning on renewing on Barnes & Noble Membership. Shipping is free on $35, and with the sale selection online being essentially eliminated, probably the only time I’ll shop is during a buy two get a third free manga sale, and I’ll probably get to $35 anyway.
The moving of collectibles into a larger toy section was fine, but I personally didn’t care for the new setup. For me, who cares about moving between sections the fastest versus the browsing experience, it was meh. I can see the ease though for browsing manga, as now it’s a continuous section that you can take in all at once versus having to go to the other side to see more. Of course, that ease doesn’t apply to every section, as there are more graphic novels than what fits right here.