I keep reading stories about how well B&N is doing. It’s not evident in my local market. More competitive with an old mall-based Waldenbooks than a Borders. And practices of shelving books by type, e.g. trade paper vs mass market etc. strikes me as crazy. Thus far I’m not convinced.
My local one closed two months ago to move to a smaller location. Won't open again until at least spring. They still had an iOS 5 book on the shelves from 2011.
My observations are that BN has been rocking really well the last year.
I noticed the uptick last year. I still miss the volume of books from the 1990 and 2000's but is is a nice place to visit.