Dalton Booksellers Bites The Dust. Who is Next?
Sometime today, according to UPS tracking, my 87-year-old father will be receiving his Barnes and Noble nook. It’s a belated birthday gift. My dad’s conversion to an ereader is occurring at the same time Barnes and Noble is closing the last of the B. Dalton bookstores. B. Dalton Bookseller is about to turn its last page, nearly 44 years after throwing open the doors to its first store at Southdale Center in Edina. With just 50 stores in the once-mighty chain still open, parent company Barnes & Noble Inc. will shut down all remaining stores by month’s end. Minnesota’s last two locations, in Edina and Bemidji, will close Jan. 16. It’s another chapter in nearly two decades of upheaval in the book industry, as the rise of Amazon.com and national supercenters crowded out smaller chains and independents. Star Tribune That upheaval isn’t likely to stop anytime soon. While there are diehard physical book lovers (I love the feel, I love the smell, I like to look at them on my bookshelf) who sco
