Closing the Book

Remember when it was such a joy to visit the local book store and browse around for hours. Then the local dusty bookstore was replaced by big box Borders and Barns & Noble where you could not only browse but also sip a double mocha butterscotch vanilla skim latte. This weekend I passed what was one of the few remaining neighborhood bookstores that showcased wonderful table top books. One would think the table top niche would be immune to the onslaught of digital. Alas, not true, the store was “out-of-business.” Well, the book worm turns again. Borders is liquidated and gone, and Barns & Noble is shrinking. The company announced that it expects to shutter one-third of its stores over the next decade at a pace of 20 per year. I seems to me that the fate of Barnes & Noble is still out with the jury. Random House, the world’s largest publisher of consumer books, says e-books now make up about 22% of its global sales, up from almost nothing five years ago. The head of a major publishing rival says he expects e-books will be as much as 50% of his total book sales in the U.S. by the end of 2014. No doubt about it, it’s another indicator that it’s a Bear Market for big-box landlords.

Tony LoPinto is the Global Sector Leader of Korn/Ferry International’s Real Estate Practice and founder of SelectLeaders. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.