Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt on Reviving an Iconic Brand

Summary

Episode Summary: Bloomberg Businessweek – "Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt on Reviving an Iconic Brand"

Date: January 12, 2026
Guests: James Daunt (CEO, Barnes & Noble; Managing Director, Waterstones; Founder, Daunt Books)
Hosts: Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec

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Overview

In this insightful episode, Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec talk with James Daunt, the transformative CEO of Barnes & Noble and a key figure in UK bookselling. Daunt shares his philosophy and practical approach to revitalizing Barnes & Noble by returning to community-focused principles, giving autonomy to store staff, and doubling down on the irreplaceable in-person bookstore experience—even in the face of digital disruption. The conversation touches on the resurgence of physical book sales, the interplay between large chains and independents, the challenges and opportunities of AI in publishing, and the important societal roles of bookstores and libraries.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Rebound in Bookstores & Metrics of Health

• Industry Resurgence:

  • Daunt notes a broad rebound in the book market, attributing part of this to the pandemic:
    "Covid was a difficult time for us...but people rediscovered reading. Bookstores are great places...particularly young people like to gather and like to read."
    [03:04]
  • Both large chains and independents now run better bookstores, leading to increased interest and foot traffic.

• Recent Performance:

  • While refusing specifics (since B&N is private), Daunt asserts that same-store sales are now positive and expansion is underway:
    "We are now over 700 stores...we were below 600 a short while ago. Then you're going to sell an awful lot more."
    [10:27]

Community Bookstores within a Chain

• Decentralized Philosophy:

  • Daunt’s central idea is to make each B&N location feel like a local, community bookstore:
    "What we as a chain bookstore now need to do—and have done—is abandon all consistency and operational disciplines...and hand power to our individual store teams."
    [05:29]
  • Local store managers are given autonomy over curation, displays, and even budgeting, allowing each store to cater to its community.

• Successes & Challenges:

  • This strategy works “dramatically well” in some locations but less so where staff lack experience:
    "Bookselling is a trade, it's a vocational trade...skills have to be learned and developed."
    [05:43]

• On Consistency vs. Local Flavor:

  • Some basics remain, e.g., stocking bestsellers and classics, but beyond that:
    "We give them no constraints, no budget constraints, no visual constraints."
    [06:21]

The Irreplaceable Physical Bookstore Experience

• Role & Atmosphere:

  • Daunt explains the "magic of curation": selecting titles that fit the local community and creating an engaging, physical space.
    "Independent bookstores have that magic of curation...a welcoming and vibrant [space]."
    [04:59]

• Events and Social Spaces:

  • Events aren't just about author signings:
    "We are social spaces...everything from story time with three-year-olds to author Q&As. In the city it's easier, but you can do it wherever you are."
    [09:48]

Evolving Product Mix

• Beyond Books:
  • Barnes & Noble now embraces “related product”:
    "[We've become] the last place in which quite a lot of these sort of dying categories actually have rejuvenated...vinyl, DVDs, CDs...toys and games, but always tightly tied into a love of learning."
    [08:40]

Reading Trends

• Classics and “Romantasy”:
  • Current trends are driven by online communities like BookTok.
    "BookTok coming out of COVID was exploded with a love of classics...At the moment it's romantasy, and it's relatively spicy romantasy, but at the same time they're reading the great books as well."
    [08:02]

James Daunt’s Role and Philosophy

• Unique Leadership Across Multiple Chains:
  • Daunt attributes his success to deep, direct experience:
    "I really do understand how to run a really good bookstore...my job is to make sure from a central perspective that we don't get in their way."
    [07:13]
  • Humorously notes:
    "Frankly, the less I do now, the better it goes."
    [07:52]

Societal Role of Bookstores and Libraries

• Libraries Under Threat:
  • Daunt laments library cuts, arguing it hurts society, not bookstores:
    "I don't think that's to our benefit. I think it's only to the detriment generally of reading and generally for engagement with books."
    [11:45]

AI in Publishing

• Barnes & Noble’s Stance on AI Books:

  • B&N goes to "very great efforts to exclude" AI-written books from its online and in-store selection:
    "AI is absolutely fantastic at hunting out AI [books], so that's helpful...as long as AI is clearly communicated...we should provide that."
    [12:17]
  • But as of now, the impact is minimal:
    "As far as we can possibly determine, it's nothing."
    [13:03]

• Duty of Care:

  • Strong stance on supporting real authors:
    "As booksellers we feel huge duty of care [to real authors]."
    [12:24]

Ownership and the Future

• Possible IPO:
  • On the Wall Street Journal report of a possible IPO:
    "Luckily that is above my pay grade. It would affect me, but I don't own the place, sad as that may be."
    [10:57]
  • On whether he'd stay on:
    "I enjoy what I do...all of us, including myself, hope to continue to do that better."
    [11:08]

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Notable Quotes

• “Bookstores are great places in which all ages, all types, but particularly young people, like to gather and like to read.”
  — James Daunt [03:04]

• "We as a chain bookstore now need to do...abandon all of the consistency...and hand power to our individual store teams."
  — James Daunt [05:29]

• "Bookselling is a trade, it's a vocational trade...skills have to be learned and developed."
  — James Daunt [05:43]

• "Frankly, the less I do now, the better it goes."
  — James Daunt [07:52]

• "At the moment it's romantasy, and it's relatively spicy romantasy, but at the same time they're reading the great books as well.”
  — James Daunt [08:02]

• "We have to keep [related products] tightly tied into a love of learning and development which is encapsulated by books."
  — James Daunt [09:22]

• "We are social spaces...everything from story time...to author Q&As."
  — James Daunt [09:48]

• “As booksellers, we feel a huge duty of care [to real authors].”
  — James Daunt [12:24]

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Important Timestamps

• [02:42] – Disucssion of recent Barnes & Noble financials (pre-privatization)
• [03:04] – Book market rebound, resurgence of physical stores
• [05:29] – Decentralization and community bookstore model
• [07:13] – Daunt’s multi-chain management style
• [08:02] – BookTok influence; classics and “romantasy” trends
• [08:40] – Expansion into vinyl, games, related products
• [09:48] – Role of events and bookstores as social space
• [10:27] – Same store sales performance and store count
• [10:57] – IPO discussion
• [11:45] – Libraries and their decline’s impact on society
• [12:17] – AI-written books and B&N’s curation efforts

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Memorable Moments

• The hosts referencing "You’ve Got Mail" when discussing independent vs chain bookstores, lightening the tone and connecting to pop culture [03:55]
• Daunt’s frank, self-deprecating management style: “The less I do now, the better it goes” [07:52]
• Candid take on AI: fully embracing identification and transparency while maintaining care for real authors [12:17]

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Tone

Daunt is warm, practical, and forward-looking, combining humor (“the less I do, the better it goes”) with genuine respect for books and readers. Both hosts and guest show an appreciation for the tactile and social joys of real bookstores, while also facing tough questions on competition, technology, and the future of reading.

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Transcript

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[Interviewer (Bloomberg)]

Radio. James Don is CEO of Barnes and Noble. He's managing director of Waterstones Bookstores in the uk. He's founder and owner of the independent bookstore chain Daunt Books too. He joins us here in the Bloomberg Interactive Broker Studio.

[James Daunt]

Welcome. Thank you for having.

[Interviewer (Bloomberg)]

Me. So it's a private company now, so we don't get the all the numbers that we get. But right before it was taken private. Barnes and Noble had a loss of $125.5 million on revenues of $3.7 billion. That was for the fiscal year that ended April of 2018. Same store sales were down more than 5%. What. What are some metrics you can give us right now that speak to the health of the.

[James Daunt]

Company? Well, I think generally the book market has rebounded. So it's not just us, though. It is definitely us along with books. And Covid was a difficult time for us. Obviously, a lot of our stores were closed, but people rediscovered reading. But also bookstores are great places in which all ages, all types, but particularly young people, like to gather and like to read. And I think we run our bookstores better, I like to say, then. But I think also the independents are opening up great stores around, and people are discovering the pleasures of a physical bookstore, and we're.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Benefiting. I love that you go there. Why do you think it's come back? Because it used to be just lovely little bookstores in towns and cities. And then, of course, the big guys came in, and, I mean, there was always the tug of war between the big and the.

[Interviewer (Bloomberg)]

Small. An old Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Movie. There was a cute.

[James Daunt]

Little. You've got.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Mail. Yeah, you've got.

[Interviewer (Bloomberg)]

Mail. Okay.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

But. And then it just felt like it was really bad for the selling of books. Amazon came on on the marketplace, and now I, too, have seen a resurgence of little bookstores. What do you think that.

[James Daunt]

Is? Well, Amazon is why people lost confidence. And then the rise of Kindle, and there was a general notion and a media sense that physical books were gone, reading was disappearing. And I think collectively, including the big chains and the small guys, a lot of people lost their way. And then we got ourselves sorted out, and the good independents have sorted themselves out, and we're all now running much nicer stores. And people are back and have embraced us. Now, the independents who did not lose their confidence, they wouldn't have even noticed the trials and tribulations that the rest of us went.

[Interviewer (Bloomberg)]

Through. So what is it about the experience inside a bookstore? And we're not just talking Barnes and Noble here, because you have experience at Dawn Books. You're also managing director of Waterstones Bookstores in the uk. What is the experience that you try to create inside a bookstore that makes it so people don't order them online or download them on an E.

[James Daunt]

Reader? Well, I think the great independent bookstores have that magic of curation, which is selecting the titles they have, matching those to the Community in which they sit and having a really nice physical space and a welcoming and vibrant one. What we as a chain bookstore now need to do and have done is abandon all of the, the consistency and operational disciplines of a chain bookstore and hand power to our individual store teams and allow them to replicate that.

[Interviewer (Bloomberg)]

Independent. So essentially, you're trying to create a community bookstore within every Barnes and Noble.

[James Daunt]

Location. And that has worked dramatically well in many, better generally in most and not so well in.

[Interviewer (Bloomberg)]

Some. Where has it not worked and.

[James Daunt]

Why? Where the teams don't quite understand or don't have the skill set or where we haven't built up the experience. Because bookselling is a trade, it's a vocational trade trade. And the skills that are attached to that have to be learned and developed. So we haven't completed that journey, I would say. But in most of our stores are a lot better than they ever were and some of them are really.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Fantastic. So, James, when it comes to the Barnes and Noble, does that mean there are certain things when you walk in that are going to be consistent whatever Barnes and Noble you come in, and then there's going to be certain nuances to the community and the environment or what. How do you kind of hand.

[James Daunt]

Over? Well, the consistent thing is they're full of books and they are.

[Public.com Advertiser]

Bookstores.

[James Daunt]

Check. But we, and because there are books obviously that are best sellers and books that people want and you know, everybody has to have Catcher in the Rye because every bookstore does independent thing, but we leave it entirely up to them. We give them no constraints, no budget constraints, no visual constraints. We just say use common sense and make it the best possible bookstore you can. And generally they get on with that dramatically better than when they were given very strict rules to do it in precisely the same way everywhere.

[Interviewer (Bloomberg)]

Way. I want to know about how your, your role works. It's not every day we speak to the CEO of a large company that has two other jobs as well. So as I mentioned, your CEO of Barnes and Noble, you're managing director of Waterstones Bookstores, you're the founder and owner of the independent bookstore chain Daunt Books. How does that relationship work just in your professional life? Like, how do you, how are you the CEO of Barnes and Noble, but also the managing director of these other.

[James Daunt]

Stores? I think the only advantage, professional advantage I have is I really do understand how to run a really good bookstore because I ran one myself for 20 plus years longer and continue in a sense to do so. So I understand what my teams need, what my stores need, and then My job is to just make sure from a central perspective that we don't get in their way and that we provide what they require to run a really good bookstore. And what they generally require is frankly, money. They need clean carpets and they need their H Vac fixed and they need books to turn up on time when they order them. But I don't tell them what to order and I don't get in their way. And that allows me to do the job reasonably well. And frankly, the less I do now, the better it.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Goes. Are people as interested in reading classics and old time, you know, books that were just very popular years ago? I'm just curious about, like, what is it that people are.

[James Daunt]

Buying? Well, there was a. You mentioned Booktok earlier. Booktok coming out of COVID was exploded with a love of classics. Everyone was reading Middlemarch and Jane Austen and that was hugely exciting and continues still. But at the same time, you know, the roving eye, because, you know, kids want to read the same thing because they want to talk about books and engage. At the moment it's romantasy and it's relatively spicy romantasy, but at the same time they're reading the great books as.

[Interviewer (Bloomberg)]

Well. Books are only part of what Barnes and Noble sells. What else do you use to get people in the door and get them walking out? Parting with.

[James Daunt]

Money. Well, we have sort of become really the last place in which quite a lot of these sort of dying categories actually have rejuvenated. So we have a fantastic music business, vinyl, even DVDs, CDs, there's been an increase in sales of those. We have a fantastic newsstand offer and now we do toys and games, board games and the rest really properly. Again, aiming for those to be educational, to support effectively the intellectual engagement that you have around books. And therefore they sit, we believe, naturally alongside books. And, you know, that's our job. We call it related product. We have to keep them tightly tied into a love of learning and development which is encapsulated by.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Books. We're talking about James Daunt. He's the CEO of Barnes and Noble. He's also managing director of Waterstones Bookstores in the uk. Founder and owner of the independent bookstore chain Daunt Books. He's here in our Bloomberg Interactive broker studio. James, what about like live events for doing stuff? Like I've done some things at local bookstores, you know, a Q and a chat with someone on a new book. But I'm just curious, how do you kind of think about that? Whether it's in Your own bookstores, but also for Barnes and Noble, making it a place where people go to meet.

[James Daunt]

Up. I think we are social spaces. And that can at its sort of modest level, that can be the story time. A bookseller has to learn how to read a book upside down to three and four year olds, all the way to obviously being the interaction between authors and readers. And so holding talks, events, question and answer interviews, all of the myriad of ways in which you can make a bookstore an exciting place in which to come. It's easier to do in the metropolitan cities because you can get the great authors, but you can do it wherever you are on a more modest.

[Interviewer (Bloomberg)]

Scale. I mentioned same store sales back in April of 2018 were down more than 5%. Can you tell us same store sales? Are they positive.

[James Daunt]

Now? Yeah, the book market has been going up. So I mean there are plenty of publishers whose, whose public numbers will show you that. And there's been a. There's been a huge boom since COVID and generally the publishers have been doing very well. And you know, we're in that market and we're doing very well. And when you have an increasing store count and we are now over 700 stores, in fact, we were below 600 a short while ago. Then you're going to sell an awful lot.

[Interviewer (Bloomberg)]

More. The Wall Street Journal reported a possible IPO as early as the second half of this year. Is that still the.

[James Daunt]

Plan? Well, luckily that is above my pay grade. It would affect you, it will affect me, but. But I don't own the place, sad as that may.

[Interviewer (Bloomberg)]

Be. Do you think you would stay on as.

[James Daunt]

CEO? I enjoy what I do and I have a feel that what we do and, and the people who work for me are hugely vocationally motivated. We were not as important as public libraries by any means close measure, but what we do, we do do with an immense respect for the power of books. And I think all of us, including myself, hope to continue to do that.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Better. I think it's interesting you brought up libraries because I do feel like there's less and less funding for libraries in different towns. I know growing up that that was a big deal. You get your library card, you'd go to the library. That was a big deal. But is some of that also maybe fueling where people just have to go buy their own books, especially for.

[James Daunt]

Kids? I don't think that's to our benefit. I think it's only to the detriment generally of reading and generally for the engagement with books. And it's, I speak actually as an Englishman and what's happened in the United Kingdom where public libraries have not been funded for really a decade and more and it's hugely to the detriment of.

[Interviewer (Bloomberg)]

Society. AI and books. This is wild. I mean if you. This has been happening for a few years, but if you like a big news event happens, you can go find like a self published AI written book on Amazon to download right away. Are you going to carry AI.

[James Daunt]

Books? We generally don't and we go to very great efforts to exclude them from our online.

[Interviewer (Bloomberg)]

Operation. Other than it's a.

[James Daunt]

Challenge. I bet it is a big challenge. But you know, actually AI is absolutely fantastic at hunting out AI, so that's helpful. But. But in and of itself, as long as AI is clearly communicated that a book is created by AI and if readers want to read it, then we should provide that. That's our role in life. And so I'm not, you know, an evangelist is saying no, never AI, but I am saying it should be very clearly indicated whether it is a real author to whom, by the way, as booksellers we feel huge duty of care or if it's.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

A. How big is a category when it comes to books now in your.

[James Daunt]

Stores?

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Nothing.

[James Daunt]

Nothing. I mean not nothing, nothing, but as far as we can possibly determine, it's.

[Interviewer (Bloomberg)]

Nothing. I like.

[Public.com Advertiser]

That. Me.

[Interviewer (Bloomberg)]

Too. It makes me.

[Public.com Advertiser]

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