The Economist looks at the troubles of the bookstore chain.

Many investors think that Barnes & Noble is poorly managed:

Until this week’s announcement, its shares were as depressed as a great Russian novelist. Before rallying this week, they had dipped below $12, down from a peak of $45 in 2006. The firm’s market capitalisation hit a low of barely $750m. Amazon, the online bookseller that has caused so many of its problems, is worth $57 billion.

Andrew Wylie, a prominent literary agent, has launched an e-book partnership with Amazon for some of his authors, bypassing traditional publishers and frightening them more than the latest Stephen King horror story.

Whoever ends up owning Barnes & Noble faces a tough task: adapt to the Brave New World, or be consigned to the History section.

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Back in the 1980’s, when I worked in downtown Chicago, I frequently visited the flagship store of Kroch’s and Brentano’s at 29 S. Wabash on my lunch hour. Much of my library came from there. In the next decade K&B was driven out of business by the national chains, including Barnes & Noble, with a newer business model. In Evanston this was brutally obviously. Right next door to the K&B branch B&N opened a new store. It at least twice the size of its neighbor, with a better selection (comparable to Kroch’s main store), discount pricing, and a coffee shop. Economic Darwinism took its course.

The world has changed again, and newer business models have appeared in the bookselling business. Barnes & Noble is now in the place that Kroch’s and Brentano’s was 20 years ago. While I have enjoyed shopping in its stores, my sadness about its possible fate is mixed with Schadenfreude