Page 27 - 203

INTERVIEW

Leading by the Book

As the man The largest retail bookseller in the the company remains on a very strong
who turned US, Barnes & Noble (B&N) today has over growth trajectory.”
600 bookstores across the country, having
The company is in a state of near constant
around opened 57 new locations in 2024 alone, as expansion; for example, the day before we
Waterstones well as operating its online bookstore at spoke with James, the company had opened
and is now BN.com. The business also controls the a new site on the outskirts of Seattle where
transforming NOOK® Digital business, which offers first day sales reached almost $100,000.
Barnes & eBooks and an audio book subscriptions Back in September the business unveiled
Noble, James Daunt has rewritten service, the SparkNotes educational the opening of its new Pasadena, Maryland
bookstore, which offers close to 14,000sq ft
service and stationery and gift retailer
the rules of bookselling. Here the Paper Source. of books, toys, games, magazines, gift items
CEO of Barnes & Noble talks to The business is owned by Elliott and more in a space formerly occupied by
RLI about creating bookstores Advisors (UK) Limited and run by CEO Party City. The design of the Pasadena store
that thrive by thinking locally, and bookseller James Daunt, who is showcases the ambition of B&N to create
empowering staff and putting also Managing Director of Waterstones exceptional local bookstores that marry the
readers back at the heart of retail. bookstores in the UK and Founder and best traditions of independent bookselling
Owner of Daunt Books. with the resources of the historic chain.
“Of course, taking over B&N in 2019, The Pasadena location was just one of
we more or less went straight into the three new B&N bookstores that opened
pandemic, which as you can imagine was that month, alongside new stores in Florida
very unhelpful,” explains Daunt. “But today, and Washington.
the team and I have the business working As the list of offerings in the Pasadena
This page. Chicago, Illinois, US much better. We have a sharp focus on site highlights, B&N are very successful
Right page main image. New York City,
New York, US improving the book shops and we are now in selling things other than books. While
3. Westport, Connecticut, US zoned in on expansion. We open around they are first and foremost a bookstore and
4. Georgetown, Washington D.C., US 60 new stores a year, all across the US and a bookseller, they are very strong in the toys
3 4

and games department as well. each section of the store etc. the teams at time, all producing content and spreading
“We are also well-known for products individual B&N sites decide where they the B&N name across all 50 states.
such as stationary and gifting. Almost all place everything and they conduct all of the A prominent topic in today’s world is
of that is paper-based, so items such as replenishment themselves. sustainability and while the business does
wrapping paper and greeting cards are “There is guidance of course, but how everything it can in terms of minimising
prominent in our locations. If you were that is interpreted is entirely as they see fit, energy use and are plastic free, it is their
to visit one of our stores you can expect to the best of their judgement within their products that is their biggest asset in this
to see very strong brand partnerships own shop, because it is their community area. As Daunt puts it, a book basically lasts
with companies in those categories,” they are selling to. A key example is price, forever; it can be kept, borrowed, lent or
Daunt comments. we do not have a national price for a book given to the next person to read. With stores
“So everything from Cavallini and and each site has complete control over their all across the country, the sustainability of
Legami in the stationary and pen space pricing system.” their supply chain is something the business
through to Lego in the toy space and a lot It is this system that Daunt feels makes will continuously look to improve on
in the educational space. We are also a big their employees jobs more interesting and moving forward.
Ravensburger jigsaw puzzle seller.” in turn, make B&N a better and more As our time with Daunt runs out, we ask,
Our conversation with the CEO moves profitable retailer. This autonomy has also what does the future hold?
onto the subjects of strategy and guest led to excellent retention rates as people feel “I don’t feel that as a company, we have
experience, which led to a core reason as empowered to take the initiative. ever aspired to be more than a bookseller
to why this company continues to grow. This element of control is mirrored in and at a store level, we have never aspired
Daunt explains that, as a retailer, B&N give the company’s social media strategy. It is to do anything other than run shops better.
huge autonomy across the majority of tasks completely decentralised and each store This, however, is not a bad thing. We are very
to their stores and shop staff, which makes takes care of its own social media content narrow focused and we are good at what we
them quite distinctive and unique. and output. This unique outlook on these do, it has allowed us to expand the company
Rather than following the trends platforms has worked in their favour, rather in terms of both product mix and store fleet
that most large retail companies do, i.e. than one, company-driven feed, they instead and it is what we will continue to do as we
same layout, same product placement in have hundreds of accounts active at the same look forward to what the years ahead bring.”

November 2025 Retail & Leisure International 27