IMHO, they started to go downhill when they changed from Family Bookstores to Family Christian Stores.
Less books, more trinkets.
When I was a kid, I had this little handheld game. It was a little steel ball inside a small container and you had to tilt the game to navigate the metal ball around a maze. It was really hard because the ball would always fall into the holes in the game.
One the bottom were the words “Jesus never fails.” It always made me wonder if Jesus would have been really good at that game or what.
Indeed. I went in one recently for the first time in years. Few books, but lots of little idols and religious trinkets. It was horrible.
You are aware of Amazon, I think? That is why Borders closed and B&N has closed many of their stores. This is why Best Buy has gone from a huge selection of DVDs and CDs to only a handful and in its place are selling men's shavers and blenders.
Family Bookstores got most of their revenue from books, CDs and DVDs, but brick and mortar can't compete with Amazon or Christianbook.com.
So they did what Best Buy has done. Replaced some of their selection with other items because they could not move their books or CDs.
What would you have done differently?