A Look at the Political Economy of Barnes & Noble

 

 

The first Barnes and Noble bookstore was opened in New York in 1917 by William Barnes. Soon after this, he and G. Clifford Noble formed a partnership and began business together. In 1971 Leonard Riggio, the owner of six college bookstores, purchased the store and turned the Fifth Avenue shop into "The World's Largest Bookstore". By 1985, Barnes and Noble had quite a positive reputation as seen in its sale of discount books, publicity on television, public seating and amenities, community events and author participation, extensive children's departments, mail order catalogues, and an interest in rescuing out-of-print books. By 1997, Barnes and Nobles had adopted the "super store" image including cafes, magazines, software, and auditory entertainment merchandise. Barnes and Noble opened its public site on the World Wide Web. By this time, Barnes and Noble had gone public, stock in the company had begun to sell on the New York Stock Exchange. Presently there are 620 Barnes and Noble bookstores in 49 states and the District of Columbia. In 2001, Barnes and Noble had $4.8 billion in sales and Barnes and Noble.com brought in $404 million.


Barnes and Noble offers much opportunity and potential for an increase in urban wealth not only for the areas surrounding the establishment but also for an overall wealth in urban centers in general. Barnes and Noble has a clear interest in supporting the local and regional communities in which they are located. They offer grant or scholarship programs for educational, literacy, or art program improvements to nonprofit organizations in the areas that they serve. They also offer national and local sponsorships and give national donations. The company extends great opportunities to booksellers, through top ten lists and author connection programs, and to authors, through signings, readings and performances. They also offer many employment opportunities from retail to corporate positions at their New York office. These jobs include fantastic benefits- medical and dental program, vision car program, life and disability insurance plans, and a 401(k) investment plan option. This is a considerable incentive for employees. However, because Barnes and Noble is a large chain store, a great portion of the wealth is not located in the specific surrounding areas of the business. Shareholders do gain a considerable amount of wealth, however these economic increases are spread throughout and generally concentrated in large urban areas. As a chain store, Barnes and Noble's primary focus is on survival for the chain and bringing wealth to the company which will allow for the chain to grow and to create more successful links, more stores, throughout the country.

The political context of those neighborhoods and cities that surround Barnes and Noble is one worth analyzing. As a large and wealthy company, Barnes and Noble has the ability to manipulate the environment surrounding its stores, participating in urban renewal. Since the store brings in a certain type and class of shoppers, those who have the ability and interest in the luxury of buying books, the company needs to keep its environment at a certain decency level as not to discourage its consumers. Barnes and Noble needs to secure the area in order to keep the customers and the stores themselves safe from danger. Also, in promoting education through the above mentioned grant and scholarship programs, these programs support and hope to aid, through a heightened community participation, in a pleasant future environment in the areas that Barnes and Noble is located. However, as Barnes and Noble has the capability to choose its locations across the United States, it would be assumed that the stores would choose areas in which not much urban renewal would be needed. The exchange value of Barnes and Noble stores is dependent on which area the individual store is located. If Barnes and Noble moved into an area that was going through the process of gentrification, its presence in the area would certainly help with renewal of the neighborhood. Gentrification usually brings in a social class in which appeals to a younger, more educated, "ready to enter the real world" group of people. A bookstore and cafe setting would seem to be quite attractive to this community. A Barnes and Noble bookstore would be very successful in a gentrified area.


The competition for investment at Barnes and Noble is an interesting aspect of the political economy which should be addressed. Barnes and Noble is the largest bookseller in the world. Its competition is fairly limited. As the number one bookseller, other bookstores have a difficult time competing with its business. When Barnes and Noble moved into a new location in Fresno, California it offered much competition to the nearby Borders bookstore. Dusty Guthier, the store manager stated, "Competition is good for Barnes and Noble, it keeps us on the edge of what our customers want. It is good for any company... competition is good for us and for them." Competition for Barnes and Noble allows the store to keep on its toes and to value the specific area in which the store is located. As a chain, this strategy works well as customers feel like each individual store is different and caters towards their specific needs. Thus, the use value of the stores is dependent on the area in which they are located. Each store organizes individual community events, author appearances, and activities for children. A bookstore thrives on tailoring to shopper’s needs. Books are not needed for survival; therefore as a specialized store Barnes and Noble needs to keep consumers interested.


Barnes and Noble also keeps the business active in the competition world by continuously expanding its finances. In 1986 Barnes and Nobles purchased B. Dalton bookseller and in 1989 and 1990, they purchased Scribner's Bookstore and Doubleday Book Shop. Barnes and Noble also holds Game Stop Inc. which is the nation's largest video game and entertainment software retailer. In 1999, Barnes and Noble undertook its Internet commerce company Barnes and Noble.com. This World Wide Web site offers all of the products found in the stores, and more. The site also provides a recently launched Barnes and Noble University, an Internet hub offering free classes for learning and community. In 1999, Barnes and Noble landed 49 percent ownership in iUniverse.com, the worlds largest publishing portal as well as maintaining a 50 percent interest in Calendar Club L.L.C., which sells a large variety of calendars during the holiday months. Currently, Barnes and Nobles also has an investment in Indigo Books & Music, Inc., a Canadian company selling books, music, gifts, etc.


As a themed space, Barnes and Noble has successfully designed a store in which it culturally and politically appears to have a rather pure outer shell. However, with more analysis, one can begin to understand the inner economic core of this establishment.