What would Barnes and Noble be without all the parents and babies?
What would they be without all those people sitting in there reading?
What would they be without all those people reading magazines in the newstand section?
Question: Do they need the public as much or more than the public needs them?
It’s an interesting question. Their brand certainly depends on the perception that B&N offers a service to the community. It’s like a local library except they have more periodicals and you have to pay for the books and magazines.
Their brand even depends on the perception that parents and kids swarm there in inclement weather to enjoy their well-designed children’s spaces. Okay, it results in damaged books, crowded spaces, and garbage. But do the positives outweigh the negatives in dollars and cents.
Why else would they have allowed it for this long?
If they had their druthers, would B&N, which started out as a textbook seller on lower Fifth Avenue, want to change their image and be less community friendly? Has this been a positive or negative for their business.
I’m thinking it’s been a win win for them. Don’t you think?
Children securely strapped into strollers or careening though the store high on hot chocolate, grabbing books from the shelves, playing on the escalators and in the elevator. Hmm…
BTW, damaged merchandise only costs B+N the price of shipping it back to the publisher although most publishers will let them simply destroy the merchandise.
I think that a lot of people are missing a key point of distincton: Barnes and Noble is not banning CHILDREN, they are requesting that parents and caregivers park strollers in a designated location.
The selfish attitude that “sure, kids destroy the store’s property–but the stores should kowtow to them and their parents, anyway” SHOULD strike me as shocking and sad, but unfortunately, I’ve seen the attitude that many parents of small children come along with these days. Namely “I’ll take my child ANYWHERE I please, regardless of the damage, regardless of the noise, and regardless of how many other people are inconvenienced! Screw you if you don’t like it!!!”
Whatever happened to common courtesy and manners? Are they now flushed away with the afterbirth?
Your child is NOT the center of the Universe, get over it. Bookstores make their money from people BUYING books, not from those let their offspring destroy them while they read 5 magazines for free. Bookstores are (or used to be) a quiet haven for people trying to escape the ugliness of the world, they are not day-care centers.
I for one will give this store MORE of my business and hope others do, too! If the diva moms take their business elsewhere, all the better for the store AND most of its customers!!
Isn’t there a library in park Slope? Why does everyone feel like they must use the B&N as one? And why does B&N allow it?
Everyone with a kid knows that they aren’t easy. I mean they’re not dolls, for chrissake. But, in fairness, consideration for one’s neighbors — often childless neighbors — is a given. So, be aware that your freakin’ stroller is taking up the entire sidewalk, store entrance, you fill in the blank.
Let’s extend this stroller entitlement to public transportation too. Unless your kid is sick or dead asleep or the train is essentially empty, fold that sucker up. That’s why they make strollers that fold up in a single motion.
And as for B&N, they make their bread & butter off these people. There is the assertion that people simply use the store to park their fat a**s in winter. To be sure, this is done. But just as often, these same parents and caregivers are buying books, gifts, coffees, magazines, etc.
Plus, whoever said B&N had a well-designed space for children or reading in general. I find it to be the least user-friendly book store around. Not enough cozy places to sit for a store that hustles its image on that point. The only plus is the discounted books. That and the fact that my family keeps me in good supply with gift certificates.
love, maria
“Their brand certainly depends on the perception that B&N offers a service to the community.”
Even in Park Slope, the “community” includes individuals other than spoiled 4 year olds and their obnoxious nannies (or the occasional P.S. parent that actually does the day to day care for the child). One can only appreciate that service when one can physically access the books and space provided. Since the ostensible purpose of a stroller is to transport the little tyke from Point A (painstakingly preserved historic brownstone) to Point B (shop), caregivers should be excited to have an opportunity to teach their child compromise and sharing by allowing others to use and enjoy the space – the “service” as well. To espouse any other view betrays a swollen sense of self-entitlement that is a DISSERVICE to the children who are most at issue here.
i dont mind when people hang reading or havin coffee & read, but MUST they sit there for hrs on end??? i mean, come on! as for strollers… give me a break. anyone with half a brain or with an ounce of consideration for others gets it!!!