It would have combined the nation's largest book wholesaler with the largest bookstore chain.
The bookstore chain pivoted to anointing liquidators as the opening bidders in the auction, set for Tuesday.
The brothers sold their company to Kmart Corp. in 1992, which already owned the Waldenbooks mall bookstore chain.
Shares in the bookstore chain Barnes and Noble have shot up after reports Microsoft was planning to buy its Nook e-reader division.
But the liquidation of a 40-year-old bookstore chain ultimately tells the truth about the brand and how it was managed.
Nook Media's assets also include a college bookstore chain, which the main Barnes and Noble business may take back if any deal is signed.
The city's artistic and literary history, including the Beats and the Dead, feels very much alive in the big chain-resistant bookstore and cafe culture.
As for the original bookstore chain, its chairman, Leonard Riggio earlier this year said he wanted to buy its 700-strong chain himself, but not the e-book reader.
But the retailer, the largest U.S. bookstore chain by revenue, posted a 0.9% decline in comparable sales at its namesake physical stores in the quarter.
Kinokuniya America, a bookstore chain whose stores gets weekly shipments from Japan, last month announced a 15% discount on all Japanese books sold in its seven U.S. locations, in cities including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle.
Heavy book readers like me aligned with them entirely, gleefully enjoying the destruction they wrought on big chain and small local bookstore alike.
Once again, the story hinges on a couple who know each other for real only in the final minute in this case, Joe Fox, who owns a chain of large bookstores, and Kathleen Kelly, who runs one small bookstore and finds herself put out of business.
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