Barnes & Noble has staged an unlikely comeback. CEO James Daunt shared 4 key lessons from its turnaround.

Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt.

Li Ying/Xinhua via Getty Images Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt has executed an unlikely turnaround at the storied bookstore chain.

Daunt said that steady improvements and empowering local booksellers have powered its comeback.

He spoke about changing culture, data dangers, mistakes, and the power of authenticity on a podcast.

Bookstores might seem old school in the AI era, but Barnes & Noble has staged a fairy-tale comeback under CEO James Daunt.

After shrinking to under 600 locations in 2023, the storied American bookstore chain opened 57 locations in 2024 — more than in the entire decade between 2009 and 2019.

It expanded by more than 60 stores last year, and it's targeting another 60 this year, it said in a news release this week.

Barnes & Noble was taken private in August 2019 when Elliott Management acquired it for close to $700 million, including debt.

The hedge fund tasked Daunt — who led the turnaround of British bookstore chain Waterstones, which Elliott acquired in 2018 — to revitalize Barnes & Noble as well.

Daunt explained how he turned the page at Barnes & Noble during the latest episode of the "Masters of Scale" podcast.

Here are the key insights from the conversation.

Culture change Daunt said Barnes & Noble had the same core problem as Waterstones: its bookstores "weren't very good." He said that for booksellers, attention to detail, presentation, service, assortment, inventory, and judgment all matter.

Steadily improving those things year after year has been key to his success, he said.

But Daunt said another key plank of his strategy has been to shift away from centralized control of stores, and put local booksellers in charge instead.