There are currently more than 750 Barnes & Noble college bookstores across the US. But today, these bookstores are considered a losing proposition for the Basking Ridge, New Jersey-based company. Shares of BNED have recently dropped below $1 and there don't seem to be any buyers in sight.
Barnes & Noble college bookstores have done a few things over the years to get students to come in and buy, teaming up with Starbucks and selling overpriced merchandise. And they have been cost cutting. Wages at Barnes and Noble stores are low and schools rely on college students for much of the work. But coffee and snacks, high prices, low wages and reduced staffing haven't been enough to make the stores profitable.
The company did have a resurgence during the COVID pandemic (2020-2021) but that was short lived.
The pandemic led to a shift to online learning, which boosted demand for digital textbooks and other educational materials. Barnes and Noble Education was well-positioned to benefit from this trend, as it has a strong digital business.
In December 2020, Barnes and Noble Education secured a $15 million investment from Fanatics and Lids, two sports merchandise retailers. This investment was seen as a vote of confidence in Barnes and Noble Education's business model and its potential for growth.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, Barnes and Noble
Education received $40,627,996 in COVID relief funds under the Higher
Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) program. The company used these
funds to provide financial assistance to students, faculty, and staff,
and to cover the costs of responding to the pandemic.
BNED is trying to stay up with the times and also keep their physical presence by offering First Day Complete, bundles of required digital course materials which are supposed to save money for students and schools. But will that be enough to keep the stores open?
(Barnes & Noble at Camden County College, Camden, New Jersey)
Glimmer of (Democratic) Hope
In May, workers at the Rutgers University bookstore voted to unionize, joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). According to Publisher's Weekly "bookstore unions across the country have gained significant ground."
Students at more than 50 colleges have also called for the expulsion of anti-union Starbucks stores from their campuses. And Starbucks Workers Solidarity has asked community members to boycott Starbucks until their local store has received a contract.
Starbucks Workers Solidarity has unionized at more than 300 locations, but at a price: the closing of a few stores as a form of corporate retaliation--and to generate fear among workers. Recently, the University of Southern California, known for its neoliberal policies, evicted a small business owner outside USC's Keck Hospital, in favor of a Starbucks.
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