Barnes & Noble had a bad second quarter, reporting a $30 million net loss against last year’s net loss of $10 million, and coming in below analysts’ expectations.
Second quarter store sales came in at 6.3% less than the same period last year, and the stock tanked 11% on the news.
The sales dip was blamed on the lack of a Harry Potter book this year.
But the company seems to have had an epiphany, and has now decided to focus on its core strength – selling books.
Barnes & Noble CEO Demos Parneros, the company’s fourth chief in that many years, said “that’s our heritage” and that “we will place a greater emphasis on books.”
Parneros also said that “customer research” showed that shoppers liked interacting with human booksellers.
The company will be unloading some of its poor-selling items, such as games, toys and gifts.
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