10th of december 2010
History
In 1873, Charles Barnes opened a book-printing business in the USA. The first bookstore was set up by his son, William, in partnership with G. Clifford Noble, in 1917 in New York and it is the advent of Barnes and Noble. In 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, the bookstore was moved to its current location on Fifth Avenue.
Barnes & Noble was acquired by Leonard Riggio in 1971, who oversaw the growth of the business. Leonard Riggio, the company's chairman, began his bookselling career while attending New York University in the early 1960s. Working as a clerk in the university bookstore, he became convinced that he could do a better job serving students, and he opened a competing store of his own. With a small investment, Mr. Riggio established the Student Book Exchange (SBX) in Manhattan's Greenwich Village in 1965. The store quickly became one of New York’s finest bookstores, known for its knowledgeable staff, wide selection and great service.
In 1974, Barnes & Noble became the first bookstore to advertise on television. In 1975, the company became the first bookseller in America to discount books, by selling New York Times best-selling titles at 40% off the publishers’ list price. During the 1970s and 1980s, Barnes & Noble opened smaller discount stores, which were eventually phased out in favor of larger stores. They also began to publish their own books to be sold to mail-order customers, enabling them mail-order to reach new customers nationwide through mail-order catalogues. In 1979 Barnes & Noble acquired a chain of retail stores called Bookmasters, and then bought up Marboro Books Inc., a remainder company with discount retail outlets.
Barnes & Noble continued to expand throughout the 1980s, and in 1987, the company made its largest acquisition when it purchased B. Dalton Bookseller from Dayton Hudson. This acquisition of 797 retail bookstores thrust the company
Bibliography: http://www.google.com/finance http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/ http://www.fundinguniverse.com/ www.barnesandnoble.com www.maths.tcd.ie/~nora/FT351-3/CS.pdf www.ichnet.org/glossary.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnes_%26_Noble http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=BARNES & NOBLE+Major+Holders Barnes & Noble annual report