Saturday, March 01, 2008

For once, I'm jealous of Minot

Excerpts from a company press release...

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller, will open a new bookstore on March 12 in Dakota Square Mall at 2400 10th Street S.W., Minot, North Dakota. The store will stock close to 200,000 book, music, DVD and magazine titles and include a cafe serving Starbucks coffee. The new Minot Barnes & Noble will be open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 9 p.m. on Sunday, and employ approximately 65 people from the community.

The new store will feature:


-- Large-scale children's departments. Bigger than most typical bookstores and stocking over 15,000 titles in an easy-to-browse environment, "Barnes & Noble Jr." departments are designed to appeal to children, parents, teachers and librarians. Children's story hours will be held twice a week.


-- Advanced technology music-listening and movie-previewing system. The store's music department will feature RedDotNet, the most advanced listening and previewing technology. RedDotNet enables customers to listen to any CD in the store, sampling up to 270,000 music titles by simply passing it under a scanner. Connected to the company's online electronic music catalog, the store's listening stations make "browsing with your ears" a reality. Thanks to the latest technology, RedDotNet stations also allow customers to view a three-minute clip of up to 60,000 DVDs.


-- Giant Newsstand. The store's newsstand stocks over 2,000 titles, including hundreds of hard-to-find specialty magazines and out-of-town newspapers.


-- Wi-Fi Service. AT&T Wi-Fi(SM) service allows customers to use their laptop computers and personal digital assistants anywhere in the store or cafe to communicate online, surf the Internet and connect to corporate networks at speeds 50 to 100 times as fast as a dial-up connection. A single two-hour session costs $3.95, and an annual membership with unlimited access to Barnes & Noble and more than 50,000 AT&T Wi-Fi hot spots is also available.


-- Community Center. The Barnes & Noble store will serve as a local community center, hosting a number of community events throughout the year. They will include author readings and discussions, book clubs, and programs with local literary and cultural organizations. The store will also hold bookfairs, partnering with local schools and other community institutions.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I want one of those too. :-/

Rick said...

damn them...

Anonymous said...

sampling, newstand, wi-fi, bookfairs?

sounds like a library with a starbucks inside. this is what you're all desperate for, a place to loiter?

Anonymous said...

Minot Magii

Anonymous said...

Why Not Minot. They also have a great zoo! The mall there is the best in the state, which I know isn't saying much...

Anonymous said...

Holy F'ing S. Yes, anonymous 2:07, this is what we're all desperate for. Browsing a decently stocked bookstore isn't some kind of niche fetish, you jackhole.

Anonymous said...

Agreed, anonymous 2:46, although I generally frown on being an anonymous toughguy and calling people names under the cover of anonymity, I couldn't have said it better myself. Jackhole. LOL.

Anonymous said...

anon 2:07 has a point. First we have complaints about restaurants in town and now we need bookstores with amenities. Sheesh, you people stress over the strangest things. Pampered, self indulged, whiny...

Anonymous said...

Seriously, paying for WiFi? WTF!?! I love BN and Starbucks, but to have to pay for access to the Internets is absurd. For this reason, I limit my time to BN's website. Forget about the four-walled store, it's an antiquated proposition; unless they are willing to embrace my presence in their store with decently priced books, high priced coffee, and free WiFi.

Lynsey said...

You forgot to mention The Cheesecake Factory will also be inside!

Anonymous said...

I would very much appreciate a public focused B&N in Grand Forks. The one we have is ALMOST a campus bookstore and ALMOST fit for public consumers. The only draw to Fargo for me are the restaurants and their B&N. I say bring Borders in if B&N can't do it for the Grand Forks community.

Anonymous said...

I love reading books and magazines at B&N! I pay the price of overpriced coffee as a sort admission price to read for "free". Their corporate is cool with me as a consumer -- because a repeat customer is going to spend much more anually than a few times a year consumer.

Anonymous said...

There is talk that the Barnes and Noble in Fargo might be moving into West Acres into the soon to be vacated Walgreens. Here's hoping they then build a second store near all the shopping going in on 52nd.