I worked at B&N for 4 years (2 before and 2 after the sale), it actually has been pretty good so far for the business. The stores have been given much more creative control over what they stock so it takes advantage of what's popular at that location (my location was known for our manga and young adult variety).
There have been some bad moves taken at the corporate level (cutting the book procurement team, massive reductions in corporate headcount, etc). This makes the stores have to be a lot more self-reliant and increased workloads. Pay kinda increased, but is still way below the average for retail.
Ultimately, it's good for the business, but it's not as great of a place to work at anymore. When I started, the average non-managerial employee tenure was 6 years, now it's only 2 years there.
There have been some bad moves taken at the corporate level (cutting the book procurement team, massive reductions in corporate headcount, etc). This makes the stores have to be a lot more self-reliant and increased workloads. Pay kinda increased, but is still way below the average for retail.
Ultimately, it's good for the business, but it's not as great of a place to work at anymore. When I started, the average non-managerial employee tenure was 6 years, now it's only 2 years there.