Barnes & Noble grew into a bookselling powerhouse after scaling quickly, thanks to cookie-cutter retail locations. After years of struggling against e-commerce companies like Amazon, the bookstore adopted more of a local strategy, empowering individual stores to decide on inventory and displays.

WSJ explains how that business model has panned out for the bookselling giant.

Photo illustration: Ryan Trefes

0:00 How Barnes & Noble pivoted its business strategy
0:43 The history of Barnes & Noble
2:03 How the bookseller took a hit from digital competitors
3:00 Why the company adopted more of an independent bookstore strategy
5:18 What’s next for Barnes & Noble?

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