Local Barnes & Noble store won't be impacted by closures

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Barnes & Noble leaders expects to close as many as a third of its stores over the next 10 years, but the store at Hamilton Place won't be impacted, a spokeswoman for the bookstore said Tuesday. 

And the Barnes and Noble representative also said that leaders haven't changed their plans for store closings, and they are closing the same number of stores as they have in the past decade.

"The Wall Street Journal article implies that our rate of store closures has changed," spokeswoman Mary Ellen Keating said in a prepared statement. "We have historically closed approximately 15 stores per year for the past 10 years. Of that number, some of the stores are unprofitable, while others are relocations to better properties."

The numbers the WSJ reported are consistent with analysts' predictions, Keating also said. 

"It should be noted that in 2012, Barnes & Noble opened two new prototype stores and in 2013 plans to test several other prototypes as well," she said. "Barnes & Noble has great real estate in prime locations, and the company’s management is fully committed to the retail concept for the long term.”

The Wall Street Journal article also reported that support for Barnes & Noble is waning because of competition from Amazon, Apple and Samsung Electronics.

Earlier this month, Barnes & Noble leaders announced that learning company Pearson made an $89.5 million cash investment in Nook Media LLC at a post-money valuation of approximately $1.789 billion.

Pearson gets "preferred membership interests representing a 5 percent equity stake," according to a news release.