In spite of better than expected total US book sales numbers in the pandemic, Barnes & Noble has struggled during the crisis. Yet CEO James Daunt expresses optimism.
Catching up with PW's Andrew Albanese
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Last week, sales of Mary L. Trump’s memoir Too Much and Never Enough drove unit sales of print books up a stout 11.5% at outlets that report to NPD BookScan, reports Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer. Simon & Schuster reports that the book has sold a total of more than 1.35 million copies across all formats.
“That success has led to a solid 13.9% gain in unit sales in the adult nonfiction segment over the week ended July 11, 2020, and pandemic be damned, the week’s sales were 16.6% higher than for the week ended July 20, 2019,” Albanese says.
In spite of such better than expected total US book sales numbers, Barnes & Noble, the nation’s largest bookselling chain, has been hard hit in the pandemic. In a PW interview this week, CEO James Daunt, discussed how his tenure began quietly and purposefully.
“Daunt took over last September started, he tweaked stores for the holidays, and then Covid-19 forced all but 24 B&N stores to close for in-person shopping– and of course, there have been furloughs and layoffs since,” Albanese tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally.
“After Daunt was forced to close the majority of B&N’s stores, he decided to redesign 350 of them—a process that he had thought would take up to two years but that took about seven weeks with no foot traffic. And he says the effort he’s seen shows a new spirit among B&N’s booksellers—and he believes the bookseller is in a fight that can be won.
“Sales have slowly risen each week from the depths they reached in April. Online sales have shown steady gains, which he attributed in part to an improved website. And, a number of hot new titles are bringing customers back – thank you, Donald Trump.”
Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.
