The Harry hump is over, and Barnes & Noble is hurting. The brick-and-mortar bookstore chain is suffering due to the lack of a new Harry Potter book in 2017, Bloomberg reports. The release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child last year spiked sales, but now same-store sales in the last quarter have fallen 6.3 percent. About half of that decline is just Harry Potter drop-off, Bloomberg notes.
Barnes & Noble has struggled to compete against Amazon, although it is now abandoning efforts to make up sales in non-book items like board games and will "place a greater emphasis on books, while further narrowing our non-book assortment," CEO Demos Parneros said in a statement. Earlier this month, shares jumped 8 percent following reports that Sandell Asset Management had proposed to take the company private, although Barnes & Noble chairman Leonard Riggio said he "has no intention" of following through.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Post Office's Capture software to be reviewed over 'glitches'Speed Read Solicitor representing accused postmasters says flaws in the IT system follow 'very similar pattern' to Horizon
-
Empty-nest boomers aren't selling their big homesSpeed Read Most Americans 60 and older do not intend to move, according to a recent survey
-
Brazil accuses Musk of 'disinformation campaign'Speed Read A Brazilian Supreme Court judge has opened an inquiry into Elon Musk and X
-
Disney board fends off Peltz infiltration bidSpeed Read Disney CEO Bob Iger has defeated activist investor Nelson Peltz in a contentious proxy battle
-
Disney and DeSantis reach detenteSpeed Read The Florida governor and Disney settle a yearslong litigation over control of the tourism district
-
Visa and Mastercard agree to lower swipe feesSpeed Read The companies will cap the fees they charge businesses when customers use their credit cards
-
Reddit IPO values social media site at $6.4 billionSpeed Read The company makes its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange
-
Housing costs: the root of US economic malaise?speed read Many voters are troubled by the housing affordability crisis
