News from Publishers Lunch:

Barnes & Noble to Close Remaining B. Dalton Stores

After closing 35 to 40 B. Dalton stores annually for years now, Barnes & Noble is preparing to shutter the last remaining group of 50 Dalton outlets. Spokesperson Carolyn Brown notes, "These are small-format, low-volume stores in malls and their leases are expiring." All but two B. Dalton stores will be closed within the next few months, with branches in Washington, DC and Roosevelt Field, Long Island remaining open until their leases expire.
Brown says some "booksellers will be offered a chance to move to Barnes & Noble stores in the cases where there are Barnes & Noble stores near the B. Dalton's which are closing" and "others will be given generous severance packages." She declined to indicate how many positions will be eliminated as a result of the store closings.The B. Dalton's are all "small, low-volume" mall stores, but Brown underscores that "we are still very committed to the mall business; about 75 percent of our new Barnes & Noble stores are in malls."

Price War: $9 Hardcovers at Walmart.com--and Amazon Matches

Following the Amazon ebook pricing reset that publishers have cursed and feared, the price war over physical books has begun. On Thursday Walmart.com dropped the price on their top 10 pre-order titles (Palin, Crichton, Grisham, Crichton, Patterson, Koontz, etc.) to an even $10, with free shipping included.
More broadly, they are offering their top 200 books at discounts of 50 percent or more in a program called America's Reading List.Later in the day, Amazon matched Wal-Mart's pricing--and today both sites have dropped those ten promotional titles to just $9. Walmart.com ceo Raul Vazuez told the WSJ, "If there is going to be a 'Wal-Mart of the Web', it is going to be Walmart.com."
In the press release, the company said: "At Walmart.com, we remain committed to providing our customers with the lowest prices available online. That commitment extends to the nation's best-selling books, especially during an increasingly challenging year for many of our customers."
As part of the fallout, traders pushed Barnes & Noble's already sagging stock down more than 5 percent in morning trading. (On the flip side, the market has been responding with relief rather than worry to the announcement earlier this week that National Amusements would sell off a chunk of its stake in CBS.)