Barnes & Noble closing all ebook stores except US and UK

pdurrant · 07-08-2015, 04:53 PM

News from The Digital Reader

On the 7th August 2015, Barnes & Noble will close down all their ebook stores except for the USA and UK ones.

HarryT · 07-08-2015, 04:56 PM

I'm surprised to learn that they had bookstores in any other countries. They certainly didn't do much to advertise the fact.

pdurrant · 07-08-2015, 04:58 PM

They were via a Windows 8 app only.

tubemonkey · 07-08-2015, 04:59 PM

Guess who's waiting in the wings?

Spoiler:

AnemicOak · 07-08-2015, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm surprised to learn that they had bookstores in any other countries. They certainly didn't do much to advertise the fact.

I can recall them mentioning it when the Win 8 app came out, but never saw them do anything more than that really. Not that I'd have necessarily seen much since I wouldn't have been in those specific markets.

ATDrake · 07-08-2015, 05:18 PM

I had no idea they'd even re-opened their store for Canadians again*.

It's times like this when you can almost kind of see the backtrail of poor communications and baffling marketing decisions that got B&N to the prominence among e-book aficionados it enjoys† today.

* A long, long time ago, it used to be that you could officially buy a bare handful of titles that were listed as being available for Canadians through the main store with a Canadian address, which I did when one popped up on deep-discount availability. Then they cut off that avenue entirely to make their store fully US-only (before the eventual NOOK.com UK expansion, which incidentally has never listed any countries in its set-your-location drop-down menu besides the UK and US, an international Gentle Reader-compatible nicety the main store didn't even bother with) and never made any mention whatsoever that they were bringing it back.

† Reviled‡.

‡ Yeah, still bitter over Fictionwise.

And all the other stuff since then.

49Kat · 07-08-2015, 05:49 PM

Well, B&N has shut out a Canadian market ever since I got my first e-reader, and I always found that to be a puzzling business model--to turn away potential customers.

odamizu · 07-08-2015, 06:36 PM

Does anyone know what's going to happen to all those non-US/UK Nook customers? Will they lose their books or will they get adopted by another ebookseller (Kobo?).

murg · 07-08-2015, 07:05 PM

I hope you guys realise that when Kobo finally goes over to the dark side, we're all going to be royally screwed.

Nabeel · 07-08-2015, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by murg

I hope you guys realise that when Kobo finally goes over to the dark side, we're all going to be royally screwed.

At the risk of sounding really stupid, what are you implying?

Nate the great · 07-08-2015, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nabeel

At the risk of sounding really stupid, what are you implying?

He thinks that, in the long run, Kobo will go under.

I don't see it happening any time soon so I am not worrying over it.

Nate the great · 07-08-2015, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATDrake

I had no idea they'd even re-opened their store for Canadians again*.

It's times like this when you can almost kind of see the backtrail of poor communications and baffling marketing decisions that got B&N to the prominence among e-book aficionados it enjoys† today.

* A long, long time ago, it used to be that you could officially buy a bare handful of titles that were listed as being available for Canadians through the main store with a Canadian address, which I did when one popped up on deep-discount availability. Then they cut off that avenue entirely to make their store fully US-only (before the eventual NOOK.com UK expansion, which incidentally has never listed any countries in its set-your-location drop-down menu besides the UK and US, an international Gentle Reader-compatible nicety the main store didn't even bother with) and never made any mention whatsoever that they were bringing it back.

† Reviled‡.

‡ Yeah, still bitter over Fictionwise.

And all the other stuff since then.

The store wasn't available in Canada? I could have sworn it was.

Nate the great · 07-08-2015, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm surprised to learn that they had bookstores in any other countries. They certainly didn't do much to advertise the fact.

True story: a person who worked in Sweden's publishing industry learned that the Nook Store had launched in Sweden when I happened to mention it in a post.

I'm not kidding; I have the email.

ATDrake · 07-08-2015, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the great

The store wasn't available in Canada? I could have sworn it was.

I have no idea.

I have a supplementary Canadian account at B&N which I used for "real" purchases while you could still do a handful of them from Canada, which should still be subscribed to any newsletter emails they send out, and B&N never, ever bothered informing me in any way, shape, or form that they were re-opening availability of their ebookstore in Canada (if in fact they did), even if it was just via the Windows 8 app mentioned upthread.

Which, I guess, is kind of the point, since a lot of people seemed to have completely overlooked that they had attempted non-UK international operations at all, since apparently B&N just didn't bother to send out notices to anyone who might have had, I don't know, some sort of interest in seeing e-books go on sale in those countries?

Fbone · 07-08-2015, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the great

He thinks that, in the long run, Kobo will go under.

I don't see it happening any time soon so I am not worrying over it.

How much longer do you think Rakuten will keep funding Kobo?

07-08-2015, 04:53 PM	#1
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 72,470 Karma: 309060442 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Voyage	Barnes & Noble closing all ebook stores except US and UK News from The Digital Reader On the 7th August 2015, Barnes & Noble will close down all their ebook stores except for the USA and UK ones. Last edited by pdurrant; 07-10-2015 at 04:31 AM.

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07-08-2015, 04:56 PM	#2
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	I'm surprised to learn that they had bookstores in any other countries. They certainly didn't do much to advertise the fact.

07-08-2015, 04:58 PM	#3
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 72,470 Karma: 309060442 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Voyage	They were via a Windows 8 app only.

07-08-2015, 04:59 PM	#4
tubemonkey monkey on the fringe Posts: 45,658 Karma: 158546452 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Seattle Metro Device: Moto E6, Echo Show	Guess who's waiting in the wings? Spoiler:

07-08-2015, 05:18 PM	#6
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	I had no idea they'd even re-opened their store for Canadians again. It's times like this when you can almost kind of see the backtrail of poor communications and baffling marketing decisions that got B&N to the prominence among e-book aficionados it enjoys† today. A long, long time ago, it used to be that you could officially buy a bare handful of titles that were listed as being available for Canadians through the main store with a Canadian address, which I did when one popped up on deep-discount availability. Then they cut off that avenue entirely to make their store fully US-only (before the eventual NOOK.com UK expansion, which incidentally has never listed any countries in its set-your-location drop-down menu besides the UK and US, an international Gentle Reader-compatible nicety the main store didn't even bother with) and never made any mention whatsoever that they were bringing it back. † Reviled‡. ‡ Yeah, still bitter over Fictionwise. And all the other stuff since then.

07-08-2015, 05:49 PM	#7
49Kat Fanatic Posts: 580 Karma: 1309104 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: BC,Canada/NV, USA Device: iPad 9th Gen, iPhone 11, Paperwhite 10th Gen.	Well, B&N has shut out a Canadian market ever since I got my first e-reader, and I always found that to be a puzzling business model--to turn away potential customers.

07-08-2015, 06:36 PM	#8
odamizu just an egg Posts: 1,692 Karma: 5513698 Join Date: Mar 2015 Device: Kindle, iOS	Does anyone know what's going to happen to all those non-US/UK Nook customers? Will they lose their books or will they get adopted by another ebookseller (Kobo?).

07-08-2015, 07:05 PM	#9
murg No Comment Posts: 3,240 Karma: 23878043 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Australia Device: Kobo: Not just an eReader, it's an adventure!	I hope you guys realise that when Kobo finally goes over to the dark side, we're all going to be royally screwed.

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