Barnes and Noble 1998 Annual Report Download - page 5

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 5 of the 1998 Barnes and Noble annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 61

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61

LETTER TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS
This year’s Annual Repo rt is divided into two sections.
The first is a descriptio n of our retail business alo ng with o ur
year-end financial results. The flip side of the report provides
some information and co lo r for our exciting and growing
e-co mmerce enterprise, barnesandnoble.com.
Although it is clear the World Wide Web, with its pro found
po ssibilities, will beco me a major component of the future of
boo kselling and publishing, we believe retail bookstores will
remain the foundation of our industry. As the pictures of our
new stores illustrate, shopping and browsing in a bookstore
is an irreplaceable experience, and it is woven securely into
the fabric of our American culture.
At the same time, the Internet o ffers o ur customers yet another way to connect to Barnes & No ble.
This has proved beyond dispute to increase the number o f books purchased, simply because it
provides the convenience o f a great boo kstore at the touch of a fingertip.
Mo re and more, we view barnesandno ble.com as the broadcast channel for the company, and the
Barnes & No ble stores as the portal through which our e-commerce business will be no urished.
And more and more, we are finding our go od customers, especially avid book readers and
collectors, buy books frequently across all channels o f distribution.
As you know, predicting the future is no t so easy these days. If, as they say, an Internet year is
equivalent to seven pre-Internet years, we wo uld need to be looking 35 years into the future to do
a five-year plan. Well, I’m not going to say I can see that far ahead (show me so meone who can),
but o ur shareholders and customers can be sure of one thing:
The book on Barnes & No ble is only up to the second chapter!
Leonard Riggio
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Len Reggio photo: Josef Astor