Barnes & Noble will be closing stores over the next decade, Huffington Post reports Jan. 28. The store's top executive, Mitchell Klipper, confirmed that the book chain will go from having 689 stores to 450 or 500 in the next ten years. This means about 20 stores a year will be shut down.
Since 2003 Barnes & Noble has closed 15 stores a year, but has opened 30 more a year as well. In the last fiscal year, the chain has had 14 closures and no openings.
Store revenue was down 11% over the nine-week 2012 holiday season. Ebooks, the Nook, and other digital reading devices have largely dominated the book market.
According to the Wall Street Journal that originally published the report about Barnes & Noble closing stores, the following was in the source's report:
"Barnes & Noble has 442 leases up for renewal by April 30, 2016, representing substantially more than half of its stores. Mr. Klipper said he expects many will be renewed: 'Why close them if they are making money?'"
It's not known which locations face closures of the retail chain. Barnes & Noble opened its first store in New York City in 1917.
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