Barnes and Noble - WAKE UP!

Submitted by nick on August 10, 2005 - 07:51.

OK, so I'm all fired up about Ruby on Rails.

I go to Amazon -- 2-3 week delay on the book.

I want it today or tomorrow, so I go to the Barnes and Noble website. They have the book in stock, but I want to know if it's in stock at my local Barnes and Noble. As far as I can tell, there is no way to tell if a book is in stock at my local B&N.

Why would they spend money on their web presence if they are going to use it to increase the value of their brick and mortar? Or vice-versa? I searched their help page. I googled it. Surely there is some actual business strategy at work here?

I can't find it.

Besides the store locator, there is no store integration. If I go to a store, they can tell me if a book is in stock at another location. Does B&N need a couple ETL developers? Gimme a week and I'll come integrate it with Rails.