Imagine if...

In 2018 a columnist in the New Your Times expressed concerns over the development in Barnes & Nobles, the largest chain of bookstores in the US. He found it ‘depressing to imagine that more than 600 Barnes & Noble stores might simply disappear’. It appeared they were losing the battle against Amazon and that ‘the death of Barnes & Nobles is now plausible’.

Fast forward to 2023. An article in TheGuardian tells the story of how Barnes & Nobles had ‘bounced back’ and the approach taken by their new CEO, James Daunt. The article initially caught my attention because it was about books, but as I read it, I could not help thinking it might as well be about missional denominational strategy. The parallels where so many and so clear that I could not help thinking: Imagine if The Salvation Army took the same approach? You might not be a book-nerd, but if you read on below, just exchange book store with corps and maybe corporate office with headquarters, and contemplate that if Barnes & Nobles are all about books, what is The Salvation Army all about?

If I am honest, my first thought was ‘What if IHQ would take that approach to Territories?’, but the Spirit quickly led me to ask a more relevant question (more relevant because it concerned something I actually could influence): ‘What would happen if we decided to take this approach in our Territory?’

But I am getting ahead of myself. In the following I have extracted some highlights and quotes of James Daunt from the two articles about the things that helped Barnes & Nobles ‘bounce back’ and revert the downhill trend. As you read ask ‘What if?’ and just dream.

A renewed focus

“Barnes & Noble shops were once full of other things: Lego sets, calendars, Funko Pop figurines, puzzles, chocolates – all with their own display shelves. The books were mainly upstairs…. Now “you’re not seeing much beyond books… there are other things, but it’s unequivocally book-driven.”

Taking the “corporate” out a corporate bookstore chain

“Each of the chain’s approximately 600 stores is meant to operate like an independent bookstore – unique and highly curated to fit a local community.”

When Daunt arrived it was “same, same, same” in every location. This might work in a traditional corporate retailer, but not, according to Daunt, in a bookshop. Barnes & Noble’s corporate leadership, he says, “wanted to behave like conventional retailers”. “It wasn’t because they were stupid or because they were idle. It was simply that they didn’t understand bookselling.”

“It doesn’t matter what table you’re looking at , you’re probably looking at a reasonably intelligent selection of books that feels appropriate for here,” Daunt says. “This will be different from Fifth Avenue, which will be different from the Upper West Side, and we’re just talking about . Whereas when I turned up, it was identical everywhere.”

Unique Bookstores

Not only were the bookstores given freedom when it came to how and which books they presented, also the look and design of store, the colours used and even, in some cases, the name of the front of the store. In New York City there are 9 Barnes & Nobles shop with 4 different logos outside! “Any design agency would have a heart attack if they could see what we’re doing...and certainly the identity people would have a complete crisis” James Daunt says, and sums the approach up: “It’s breaking all the rules.”

Autonomy

“Booksellers in stores, Daunt argues, largely need autonomy to run their shop best.” He tried to put himself in the place  of store managers and asked what he would want from a corporate office. “To be left alone to do the bookselling part,” he says. “I want somebody to change my lightbulbs. I want somebody to fix my escalator. I want somebody to spend money when I need it, to pay rent and – as well as you possibly can – for wages. And let me get on with it.”

There is more to ponder from the Barnes & Nobles story, but then you will have to read the articles yourself. The above is enough to consider the question: What would happen if we did Salvation Army the Barnes & Nobles way?

We shared that question during a retreat with one of the divisions in Switzerland and got some surprising and revealing answers. However, it is not my intention to give any answers in this piece, only to share the insights from the Barnes & Nobles story, raise the question ‘Imagine if…’.

Now I will sit back with a good book and wait to see what, if any, the responses might be.