February 16, 2012
Mr. William Lynch
Chief Executive Officer
Barnes & Noble, Inc.
P.O. Box 111
Lyndhurst, NJ 07071
Dear Mr. Lynch:
Did you see that? Andrew Jackson just bolted out of your Charlottesville store! He and his $20-friends, American Eagle and White House, hitched a ride in my back pocket as I exited the front door. They were planning to leap into your cash drawer. But they changed their minds after visiting the Barnes & Noble Cafe. Why? Because: 1) they couldn’t sip their $4 chai and crank out an invoice on their computer since the café’s electrical outlets have been covered up. And 2) when they asked the store manager why all but one of the outlets have been removed, he barely looked up from his sheet of 30%-Off stickers to answer. The manager’s down-turned head curtly replied that customers were abusing the privilege, staying ten hours a day and blocking the store’s emergency exits. Then he asked the lot of us why we hadn’t arrived with our computer charged.
Now I can’t speak for my greenback cohorts, but I’ll admit that on occasion, I’ve had a cup at the Barnes & Noble Cafe and done a few hours of work. If I have a big deadline and need to keep going after my kids are in bed, for example, I might kiss my husband goodnight and come to Barnes & Noble. Buy Home Front for a friend. Purchase a tea. And do a little billable work in the cafe. When you’ve had a full day working and taking care of your family, it helps to have some bright lights, caffeine, and alert people around to keep you going.
On a typical day in our community, many working parents like me have both clients to meet, and children to shuttle on field trips. Often, we have an hour to kill in between. An hour in which to purchase the new Michael Pollan book, get a cup of coffee, and send an online invoice. An hour to turn the crank of America’s economic engine. Typically we parents are the buyers of the family, the ones who remember Aunt Lil’s birthday and the next-door neighbor who’s having a baby.
As an architect, I get the building-behavior strategy thing. Remove the café outlets, and get rid of the laptop customers. Sort of like removing hospital emergency rooms to get rid of the uninsured. But when you react in the extreme, you alienate loyal customers (like me). The Barnes & Noble Members (like me). The fiction writers who’ve done readings in your store (wait for it! Like me).
So I propose to you what I proposed to the store manager today, in case he’s too busy with those stickers to call corporate. Uncover the outlets. They’re required every six feet by code. You can address the café issue with the very tool that powers your business: the written word! Print up signs for the cafe. Something like: “Thank you for your patronage. As a courtesy to other customers, please limit your laptop usage to one hour.†Writing rocks! Just ask Twain, Rilke, Bronte–even local favorites, Jefferson and Grisham. You’ll not only win the hearts and minds of customers, but you’ll also expand two wonderful genres: Moderation, and Courtesy. Give it a try, and we’ll come back, Andrew Jackson, and I. We promise not to block the emergency exits. And we may even bring our friends Grant and Franklin along.
Yours Sincerely,
the Coconut Girl
I can understand your frustration, but I’ve read on a few frugality blogs that people recommend saving money on home electricity bills by charging up laptops in public places, and I wonder if that also plays a part in B&N’s decision. (I’m not implying you’re taking advantage of them)
Bookstore coffee shops send us a mixed message: #1: come in, linger in THEIR cafe over a cupa java, etc.; sit in THEIR comfy chair and peruse THEIR books; sit on THEIR wide window ledge and check out THEIR vast collection of magazines. Conversely, # 2 message tells us to make ourselves at home JUST A LITTLE WHILE. ‘have to say that those who come in for a group “business meeting” or use the cafe for their study hall – well, a line is crossed somehow. I have BEGGED various favorite coffee shops to PLEASE NOT GET WIFI – a few thoughtless people manage to spoil the system for the rest of us by hogging the tables for hours while I stand w/my steaming mug = NO PLACE to take a load off.
Yeah, milking electrons from retailers is shady behavior. Our culture is in such flux with regard to work, workplaces, telecommunting, and family roles. This in turn affects what it means to be customers. How do we want to be served? Increasingly, online. Barnes & Noble is in serious financial trouble. Maybe the company wants to prevent its cafe patrons from buying books on Amazon.
A good point, Carolyn, that’s why a time limit would be fair to all. At the core of the overcrowded coffeehouse is another mixed message, this time from the customer. It goes like this: “I want to be around people! Leave me alone!” I’m afflicted with this particular torment. It gets onerous working by oneself all the time. I want to be out in the world, beyond the confines of my home office. At the same time, I’ve got to get work done. Pay the mortgage. America is sorely lacking a public realm–places where people can come together without spending money. This gaping hole in our society manifests in many ways.
I’ll admit it… I abuse the crap out of Barnes & Noble. The value of the “atmosphere” there has completely eclipsed the value of their products. Sure, I might buy something once in a while there – a magazine or a cup of coffee – but certainly not a book. I’ll browse, but it nearly never makes sense to buy.
That said, I’m not sure I agree that this is an American problem. I spent a summer studying in England and was stunned to find that the university library closed at 5PM, along with any place you could buy coffee (other than, ironically, the combination Starbucks/Barnes and Noble). Not wanting to be the ugly American, I instead went to a pub and started studying over a pint. Fun, but not particularly effective. Third Places seem to be in short supply just about everywhere.
if you are someone like me that has a six year old laptop with a battery that won’t hold a charge, those outlets are absolutely necessary. i never go to barnes & noble cafe and try to avoid starbucks, but what is a person to do when most of the independent cafes close by 9. what’s up with that, college town?
Isn’t it ironic how the more “connected” we become (Twitter, Facebook, Email, cellphones, etc.) the more we are isolated from actual face time with others? No late breaking news about this, but we humans do seem to need to gather and enjoy an occasional spontaneous visit with our fellow Man. But WHERE can we gather ? Warm weather helps us find public places so we can break out of our cocoons and caves – but where, when the weather doesn’t permit ? Esp. the 20-30 somethings can hang out in bars, but that environment has its limitations.
…re: spontaneous visits w fellow Man, air-tight work/family schedules and the home-centric lifestyle of having young children allows for very little social spontaneity. Social media like FB and Twitter offer much-needed views out to the world. But they’re still just views. Think: Edward Hopper paintings. Young family life can be a lonely endeavor, thus making time in coffeeshops-where someone else is making the tea, you can think quietly without interruption, and be around other adults–all the more necessary and sustaining.
The library is not so bad except for the terrible virus my computer
Contracted. Then, I had to go directly to the Geek Squad and pay $200 for the remedy. Open Space is great. I go there when I can afford the extra
Overhead expense. It cheaper than the Geek Squad. (but not always opened when you need it.)
We have friends who drive around w/laptop ready to boot up – searching for a free ride on someone’s (anyone’s) Unlocked log in. Not a shabby plan, theoretically, but who wants to drive all over, burning up petrol, in search of a cyberspace piggyback ride ?