Worlds Within Worlds...

I probably shouldn't post this, since who knows where the rumor originates or how reliable it is, but I have to say that the concept in and of itself is certainly interesting... from a new post by travis on this old thread:

see, i heard a rumor that barnes and noble was planning on opening a chain of comic shops. bad news for local shops except that the b&n stores wouldn't stock back issues. also, they'd have everything that diamond puts out, which is pretty cool, but they would end up returning unsold books over time with the covers ripped off like they do for books. that would be bad news for small-time self-publishers might have to return money. eeeewwww. hrm. corporate america smells like pee. anyway, just something i heard. sshhh!!!

What do you think it'd mean if something like that ever came about? Personally, I have my doubts they'd try it or manage to be successful if they did. It seems like things are going so well with graphic novels, would they really want to try to fuss with the monthlies, even if returnable? One of the reasons for newstands not wanting to carry comics is the dollars per square foot isn't so great with monthlies versus $8 glossy magazines or regular books. I'd think it'd be more likely for them to try small GN-only stores if anything, but I'd still wonder about how good that'd be. I mean many B&N shops are large enough that they can stock a pretty large selection of GNs. And someone shopping for those may see another kind of book they'd like to buy and vice versa. I'm not sure how much they would gain from making a specialty store versus having a large selection all in one place...