Anyone else notice this trend at their local bookstore?

Rachael_A · Jul 15, 2010

The banned books thread got me thinking about something I noticed at the bookstore this weekend. I went to buy a YA book (Lauren Myracle, awesome!), and the YA section was gone!! After a few minutes of confusion (panic), I asked where the YA section was, and it had been moved to a very out of the way part of the store.

So I got my book. Whew. But I wondered about the change. The YA section used to be in the kidlit area, and the shelves were arranged in order of age group, from picture books to chapter books to MG to YA in a nice little progression.

I'm guessing YA got moved because parents complained. Maybe some younger kids bought YA books while their parents weren't really paying attention. Or maybe seeing a book like Crank on the next shelf over from Artemis Fowl was just too unsettling

Has anyone else seen this? Any other ideas on why it happened?

kaitlin008 · Jul 15, 2010

The YA section at my local B&N is right in front of the picture book/chapter book/MG section (which is bright and colorful and good for luring in children!)

And on the other side of it is the sports section, randomly. But the YA section is certainly not hidden away by any means.

YoursEvermore · Jul 15, 2010

At my local Borders, YA is a huge section kind of in the middle of the store. It used to be by the picture books/MG and was just a couple of shelves. Now it's a big, boxy U with a ton of other YA merchandise (mostly Twilight and Harry Potter related).

Rachael_A · Jul 15, 2010

Huh. Mine is a Borders too, but at yours it seems more like they separated YA to highlight it. Maybe it was just an issue of where they had space at my bookstore, and it isn't the giant conspiracy I'm imagining it to be.

Lydia Sharp · Jul 15, 2010

YoursEvermore said:
At my local Borders, YA is a huge section kind of in the middle of the store ... it's a big, boxy U with a ton of other YA merchandise (mostly Twilight and Harry Potter related).

This is how my local Borders is set up as well. There are even comfy reading chairs. It's actually quite nice.

Sage · Jul 15, 2010

B&N still has the same set up that they've had for a while, with YA right outside the kids' section. This actually isn't at all B&Ns. Some don't have the big "walled-off" kid's section.

But my local Borders used to have this teeny tiny corner near the kids' section for YA. Now the self-help books are there and the YA section was given a huge area of the Borders. Now on one hand, if you only look for YA every so often, it's kind of hard to find them, because they're in a separated room that used to be where the DVDs and music section was (those are now tiny). It shares that room with SF/F, M/T/S, and manga, but it is the first thing you come to when you enter the room. There's also a huge stand for the more popular books (at first it was only Twilight, but now they have a slight variation there), and behind the stand is the table for book clubs, which would be my favorite place to write, if the internet wasn't so crappy there.

fredXgeorge · Jul 15, 2010

Nope, nothing like that at the bookshop I work at. Teen, 10-12, and 6+ are all seperate but they're right next to each other.

ShootingStarsMag · Jul 15, 2010

I think Borders stores are trying to promote YA more and they've added books to appeal to all the people that buy YA these days, from actual Young Adults to Adults. Mine used to be near the kid's stuff but kind of around the corner and now it's similar but just has more space. So I don't know about yours...but I like how it is now! Makes it a bit easier.

Barnes and Noble is right next to the huge children/mg section but that's it's own little area all in a circle and you go around the sides to get to the YA so it's still seperated, yet near.

Cholisose · Jul 15, 2010

The last bookstores I've gone to have had the YA section closer to the adult fiction rather than next to the children's books. I've heard that this is a trend because young adults don't want to be seen perusing shelves next to all the kids' books.

kaitiepaige17 · Jul 15, 2010

At my Hastings bookstore, the YA section is in the very back, but it's still beside the MG and children's section. I wish it could be closer to the middle or front so it would get more exposure

Miss T · Jul 15, 2010

At the bookstore I frequent, the downstairs (which is larger) is devoted mostly to children's books. The YA section occupies a couple of facing-each other shelves down there, recognizable by its total lack of color or brightness. Sigh.

It's right by the stairs, though. Sometimes they put YA displays in the front, but to my knowledge, they have yet to move the entire section.

Epiphany · Jul 15, 2010

At my Borders the YA section is the biggest, right in the front of the store. It's nice.

shaldna · Jul 16, 2010

In my local waterstones (belfast) the YA section is in the same alcove as the childrens books and PB's.

Kitty Pryde · Jul 16, 2010

At my Borders, they put the YA section (which they renamed "INK" or something? so it's more cool?) as the first books you see when you come in the front way. They are far away from both kidlit and adult lit, but next to manga and adult SF/F/mystery/horror. The YA section is broken down into YA lit and YA fantasy/SF/horror/sparklepires.
In the last few weeks they have slightly rearranged things so that YA lit is sandwiched between manga and graphic novels, and not visible from the main aisles of the store. This makes no sense to me.

In the small indie bookstores I've been in, YA is still right next to MG lit. Maybe to save on space?

batyler65 · Jul 16, 2010

My Waldenbooks/Borders doubled the size of their YA section and moved it closer to the front of the store. It's also filled with about 80% vampires/wizards/witches, in case anyone is wondering (nobody was, right?).

MJ Goodnow · Jul 16, 2010

I blame Twilight and books of the such. Maybe they mingled the YA in with some adult books so the fads would die like HP and Twilight etc.

BTW I am just joking...LOL.\

On a serious note wouldn't they want adolescents to read. I think when someone chooses a career in life they should know how to read. Why would such a store discourage that unless they don't want teens as patrons? But it did happen here in Minneapolis and that bookstore lost business before they redid their setup and urged kids to come into the store.

Because. · Jul 16, 2010

Nope. Quite the opposite. There a huge YA stand in the center of the store with two large aisles for YA right behind it at my bookstore.

batyler65 · Jul 17, 2010

I suspect it's all just supply and demand. The booksellers adjust their stores based on what's selling. If YA is selling well at your store, it gets more space.

JamieB · Jul 17, 2010

I noticed the move the OP was talking about in my B&N. The YA section used to be right next to the kidlit, now it's on the opposite side. Not sure why the change, but it took me a little while to figure out where all the YA books went.

And the Ink section in my Borders seems to be gone now. It used to be in the back center of the store. The UF/PR/dytopian YA books were in the INK section and the contemp books were in the regular YA section that's right next to it. Now they're all together again with no INK section.

Dot Hutchison · Jul 18, 2010

The BN where I work, we actually just moved our Teen section. It was on the back left wall edging the kids dept; now we have it on the back middle wall on the other side of the picturebook wall. It's still near kids, so the ones still straddling the fence between MG and YA don't have to go too far, but with the other rearranging we did, it also gets it closer to the adult genres, because a full half of our YA sales are to adults buying for themselves. We figured we might as well take advantage of the crossover and move it to appeal to the adults who want to read the books but don't want to be seen in the kids section. Plus, being on the back wall, it's now visible from the front of store, whereas before it was less obvious.

Rachael_A · Jul 19, 2010

Cholisose said:
The last bookstores I've gone to have had the YA section closer to the adult fiction rather than next to the children's books. I've heard that this is a trend because young adults don't want to be seen perusing shelves next to all the kids' books.

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks!

Paul · Jul 19, 2010

fredXgeorge said:
Nope, nothing like that at the bookshop I work at. Teen, 10-12, and 6+ are all seperate but they're right next to each other.

same as that.
Prob more a space issue.

dolores haze · Jul 19, 2010

There's been no change at my local bookstore, but a huge changes at the local library. The YA books have been moved out of the children's section and into its own area (which used to be racks of magazines and newspapers.) It's in front of a big window overlooking the village, stuffed with books and board games, and with a bunch of reading booths. I saw my first teenagers in the library last week. The head librarian looked like she'd won the lottery. Score!

ceenindee · Jul 19, 2010

My Borders used to have YA on a couple of shelves, back to back, and now it's its own little alcove with a shrine of vamp books and merchandise in the middle. Kind of cozier, that way.

Katrina S. Forest · Jul 20, 2010

My B&N is doing renovations and moving everything around. They're adding a section for educational stuff - kind of like what you'd see at a school supply store. YA had its own spot for a while during the move, but it was right where the pregnancy and infant care books used to be, and they still had a display of baby room decor in front of the shelves. Needless to say, that didn't last too long. ^_^

Anyone else notice this trend at their local bookstore?

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