Bookstores are to books what Starbucks is to coffee

The NY Times discusses the publishing industry's last stand / line in the sand / save us strategy - working with B & N

“That display space they have in the store is really one of the most valuable places that exists in this country for communicating to the consumer that a book is a big deal,” said Madeline McIntosh, president of sales, operations and digital for Random House.

 And therein lies - potentially - the key to their salvation (to the extent that salvation is available, that is).  They do seem to be approaching this with a coherent strategy, based on market realities.  E-books are exploding, and maintaining price-levels is going to be difficult.  Deploying a regimen of enforced scarcity is not really going to help (or work) - and the bookstores are useful entities, not the least because they serve a valuable alternate function They are to books, what Starbucks is to coffee.

Seriously - coffee shops sells a ton of coffee, but a huge chunk of people that go there go to socialize, either directly or indirectly, and walk away with some crazily overpriced coffee.

Definitely a lesson there, no?