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Apparently Barnes & Noble is experimenting with bringing beer and wine into certain stores. Now, this is nothing new. There are independent stores that serve alcohol all the time and many who serve it during special events.
Whether it will work for Barnes & Noble remains to be seen, but they are willing to try. Some fear it might alienate families and change the dynamics of the store, although the company insists they aren’t turning stores into bars. At the rate the stores are losing money, they need to try something.
I’ve done book signings at coffee shops on wine tasting night and they were successful. My theory is that drunk people will buy anything!
What do you think about Barnes & Noble serving alcohol?
51 comments:
Wow. Yes, I think alcohol could sell books! Although I think they had a good thing going with the kids' storytimes, etc...maybe they can have evenings for a more adult focus and mornings for kids. I don't think they want to alienate the family market, for sure, since children's books were the strongest print sellers in 2015. But no reason why they couldn't have emphasis on both markets.
Not sure about alcohol in a bookstore, but if the stores are doing bad, they have to try something, like you said. Congrats on the anthology.
If the stores are doing badly, I don't see why introducing alcohol will make any difference. The kinds of people who go into books stores will still go and those who want to drink will go to a regular bar I'm thinking. Sad, but true, it seems these days book stores are on their way out. So much has become electronic and more and more people are turning away from paper books.
Congrats on the anthology. The wine and beer thing doesn't matter much to me as I never have even one drink if I'm driving so I wouldn't indulge anyway. I just want book stores to stay in business.
Congrats on the anthology!
I think people at wine tastings are generally in a good mood and more open. And yes, maybe less-inhibited at trying a new book. :)
Barnes and Noble serving beer might mean that my significant other could have something to do at the bookstore other than follow me around, grumbling around how long we've been there, and how many books I'm planning to buy. And like you said, the beer might make him more receptive to the number of books I'm planning to buy.
Congrats on the anthology!
Hi Diane - it certainly could draw more people into their stores, and many retailers seem to be multi-tasking in their sales pitches ... I hope Barnes and Noble can find a way through ... we need them to be around ...
Congratulations on the anthology .. and IWSG newsletter is great .. cheers Hilary
Maybe it's just because I used to work at a Borders before it closed, but selling alcohol in a bookstore just seems weird to me. But who knows? Maybe it will work!
Yay for Chrys! That should be awesome.
Congrats on the anthology! It's going to be fun!
Heather
As I drink mostly WATER it wouldn't entice me into a book shop lol.
Great post Diane as always.
Yvonne.
Nothing like sipping a little wine while reading a book!
Congratulations on the anthology!
Drunk people will buy anything. Ha! I'll have to remember that for my first book signing. ;)
Yay! I'm so excited. I can't wait for the first newsletter to go out. :)
Drunk people wandering around Barnes and Noble. I might actually visit my local store just to see that!
Yay for the anthology. I don't drink so that strategy won't work on me. But show me a good book and I'll get the cash to buy it.
That's wonderful about your story in the anthology! Congratulations. I'll look for it.
I think your theory is their theory.
I think some sort of social event where people actually have to speak to one another would be another sedgeway into getting people to come. Liquor is OK. I just don't think of drinking and reading together. Then again, I am a teetotaler. Who knows, we may all be writing books to drink with in the future.
Elizabeth, that was my thought.
Jo, book stores do need to diversify. The independent ones I see do well also feature gifts and a coffee shop.
MJ, I can relate to that.
Sarah, I miss Borders and Waldenbooks.
Chrys, if you can serve wine, go for it.
Congrats on the upcoming anthology. I like Barnes and Nobles new idea. I think it could help. A lot of people will go in just to see what it's all about and hopefully decide to buy a book or two while they're there.
The Barnes & Noble thing is an interesting experiment at least. Coffee does well there, so maybe this will help too. It's really hard to get people to stop ordering online...
Since I don't drink coffee, and rarely eat chocolate, that wine availability would make me more likely to attend a social function. Of course, depending on the quality and price of the glass, I may not have money to buy the book, lol.
And just because there are "adult" beverages available, doesn't mean the parents will be drinking at the childrens' events. Give families some credit on making conscientious decisions!!
Drunk peeps tip better, too.
Starbucks here now serves wine/beer. B&N: jumping on bandwagon. I'm not sure it's enough to entice me to go in and buy/binge on books/alcohol. One drink = one book. How's one to choose?
If I had a glass of wine in my hand, I'd take more time browsing. It's a win win. :-)
Anna from elements of emaginette
Hmmm...well, I know my sister-in-law's book club always has wine so why not Barnes & Noble? :-)
I hate to see brick and mortar book stores shutting down. So, if serving alcohol keeps them open (by offering yet another revenue stream) I'm all for it!
I'm really excited to be part of The Thing That Turned me.
The beer/wine idea might actually not be a bad one. Presumably, they'd end up over-charging on the drinks to keep the book prices low. :-D
I'm not sure about B&N serving alcohol, but considering the downward trend of business at bookstores I guess anything is worth a try. Hope things don't get too rowdy and carousers don't start brawling among the book racks.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
&
Wrote By Rote
Serving wine or beer should be okay. It's hard liquor that shouldn't be served, IMO, in a bookstore. What happened to the old mainstay of coffee and books? Not enough?
I think the Barnes and Noble idea serving alcohol might just keep them afloat. I was trekking with my mates last night and Nova Dova wanted to pay for us. One root beer and who knows maybe sales will soar! Congratulations on the anthology and IWSG newsletter is a real page turner.
Yay for our anthology! Our Barnes & Noble just closed, which was heartbreaking. My oldest is particularly torn up about it. Truthfully, I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be taking my littles to a bookstore serving alcohol though.
Well, that will make meetings with my critique group much more interesting. lol
If it helps keep B&N afloat, I think they should try it. I'm more of a fan of coffee, but I've been in a few B&N's in the last few months and they were only busy right before Christmas.
Yay for the anthology. There's an indie bookstore near me that has a restaurant with yummy food, as well as beer and wine. There's always activity there.
I'm as insecure as they get. I can't participate in the monthly blog post because it's not appropriate for my blog, but I signed up for the newsletter. :)
Congrats to Chrys on being named one of the IWSG admin. The newsletter is an excellent idea too. Congrats on being part of The Thing That Turned Me anthology! That's interesting about B&N. Adding wine/beer to some stores can't hurt. Wine and books go well together.
Congratulations on being included in the anthology! That is exciting. Will sign up for the newsletter. Appreciate the info.
I dislike B&N. On one hand, they have taken away tons of books and replaced them with kiddie games. Now they're bringing in alcohol? That's pathetic - they'll try anything not to drown. Yep, this author's embittered, for several reasons. I'll stop now, though.
Hope you're well, Spunk.
A little wine, a good book, why not? I always saw my bookstore serving hot chocolate, but for those late evening reads or writers meetings, a glass of wine might be more fun!
Chrys will do a wonderful job!
Hi Diane,
Yep, once again, I'm beyond fashionably late!
You are an awesome addition to any anthology.
Ah, I can see it now, bunch of drunken fools chucking books around the store.
Gary :)
Yeah for Chris. Not sure how the beer/wine and the bookstore business will work, but in my experience there will always be customers for whatever is being sold. Congrats on the anthology.
Congratulations on the anthology...woo hoo....Snoopy Dance! Hmmm, I wonder if they need a liquor license to do that?
Gary has a point, a good book tossing might just be what BnN needs. Maybe they could introduce food, have a food fight, muck up a bunch of books, and then call it a day. I generally don't drink and read, but I guess there's room for change.
I love the idea Barnes & Noble is bringing wine to books. I have a couple friends I go to Whole Foods with since they brought wine to groceries and I know I now buy more there than I used to (as I rarely just go there for groceries--it is out of my price range, but I WILL get a couple things if I am there anyway)
Congrats on the anthology! I'm not sure about B&N selling alcohol. I know they need to do something to raise sales but I go to a bookstore to buy books. And if I'm in the mood for shake, coffee or cocoa to go along with my book reading and buying experience, then so be it. But for alcohol (beer and wine), I'd go to a bar or restaurant for that.
I don't much go to the cafe of the Barnes and Noble anyway, so it makes little difference to me. That's juts me, though. :)
I guess alcohol will loosen the purse strings. It will be interesting to see how their plan works.
Beer and wine at B & N. Sounds like a plan. Wish they'd had that addition to the menu when I had my last book signing there in December. Would have been interesting to see what might happen.
Nice idea to have the newsletter!
Happy 2016 writing!
Congratulations in contributing to The Thing that Turned Me! Will be a great anthology. Alcohol at book stores? Well, Australia is a back backward! But we do like our books...
People buy more when they're relaxed, so having wine on sale at a bookstore is a great idea. Just as long as people are careful not to spill red wine on the books!
I think a Barnes and Noble wine tasting would be fantastic. Wines paired with different books. I love it. It definitely sounds like a good business idea. My understanding is people spend more money when they're drunk. B&N will just have to figure out how to handle people getting into drunken fist fights over literary debates.
Can't wait to start getting the newsletter.
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