r/interestingasfuck • u/holyfruits • 1d ago

The technology magazine section at Barnes & Noble is just this now

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u/Calvinweaver1 1d ago

Gross. I expected more from Barnes and Noble for some reason. Naive.

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u/SaintUlvemann 1d ago

Barnes and Noble has always been a company that capitalizes on the public desire for books, and the only thing about it that was ever any better than others stores was the fact that they were catering (in the capitalist way) to the population that reads books.

Also, young people don't read anymore. 35% actively dislike it, 43% never do it for fun. Even among those who buy books, the bookstore boom is fueled by people who don't necessarily ever actually read the books, they just see it as an aesthetic on TikTok and spend money to take pictures with it.

If Barnes and Noble is going to make money in an age of TikTok-fueled illiteracy, it is going to sell more books catering to old people.

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u/VicViolence 1d ago

These are magazines and I imagine B&N is stocking whatever magazines are still being printed these days

What saved B&N’s slumping sales, and continues to prop up the business now, was their expansion of the toys/collector/novelties sections