By the end of the 1990s, an estimated one of every eight books sold in the U.S. were purchased through the chain.
Leonard Riggio , a brash, self-styled underdog who transformed the publishing industry by building Barnes & Noble into the country’s most powerful bookseller before his company was overtaken by the rise of Amazon .com, has died at age 83.
Our bookstores were designed to be welcoming as opposed to intimidating,” Riggio told The New York Times in 2016. “These weren’t elitist places. You could go in, get a cup of coffee, sit down and read a book for as long as you like, use the restroom. These were innovations that we had that no one thought was possible.
Barnes & Noble became so identified as an overdog that one of the 1990s’ most popular romantic comedies, “You’ve Got Mail,” starred Tom Hanks as an executive for the “Fox Books” chain and Meg Ryan as the owner of an endangered independent store in Manhattan. When novelist Russell Banks, addressing Barnes & Noble’s annual shareholder meeting in 1995, declared that he was both a stock holder and a happy B&N customer, some independent sellers stopped offering his books.
Bezos would liken himself to David taking down Goliath, although the contrast between the leaders also had the feel of an Aesop’s fable: The muscular, mustachioed Riggio, a boxer’s son, upended by the quick and clever Bezos. By the time of Riggio’s retirement, independent sellers regarded the chain not as a threat, but as an ally in the fight against Amazon to keep physical stores alive. At the 2018 booksellers convention, Riggio and ABA CEO Oren Teicher, once enemies in business and in court, praised each other during a joint appearance.
Leonard Riggio Amazon Bookstores Publishing Industry Independent Booksellers Superstores Alzheimer’S Disease
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Leonard Riggio, who forged a bookselling empire at Barnes & Noble, dead at 83Leonard Riggio, a brash, self-styled underdog who transformed the publishing industry by building Barnes & Noble into the country’s most powerful bookseller but later saw his company overtaken by the rise of Amazon.com, has died at age 83. Riggio’s reign at Barnes & Noble began in 1971 when he used a $1.
Read more »
Bankruptcy court OKs Barnes & Noble’s $1.83M purchase of Tattered CoverThe sale of the Tattered Covered bookstore, a longtime staple of the country’s independent bookstore scene, to Barnes & Noble got the go-ahead Tuesday from a bankruptcy court judge.
Read more »
Barnes & Noble founder in contract to sell $96M Palm Beach mansion -- after just a month for saleLeonard Riggio didn’t need long to find a new owner for his North Ocean Boulevard behemoth.
Read more »
Jalen Green Sends Instagram Message To Scottie BarnesJalen Green (Houston Rockets) sent an Instagram message to Scottie Barnes (Toronto Raptors).
Read more »
Researchers develop a concept for efficiency-enhanced noble-metal catalystsThe production of more than 90% of all chemical products we use in our everyday lives relies on catalysts. Catalysts speed up chemical reactions, can reduce the energy required for these processes, and in some cases, reactions would not be possible at all without catalysts.
Read more »
Feeling lighter and healthier, UTSA's Kevorian Barnes aims to reboundUTSA's Kevorian Barnes said he felt out of shape last year after offseason surgery, taking a step back from his award-winning freshman year.
Read more »