NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Leonard Riggio, a brash, self-styled underdog who transformed the by building Barnes & Noble into the country鈥檚 most powerful bookseller before his company was overtaken by the rise of Amazon.com, has died at age 83.
Riggio died Tuesday 鈥渇ollowing a valiant battle with Alzheimer鈥檚 disease,鈥� according to a statement issued by his family. He had stepped down as chairman in 2019 after the chain was sold to the hedge fund Elliott Advisors.
鈥淗is leadership spanned decades, during which he not only grew the company but also nurtured a culture of innovation and a love for reading,鈥� reads a statement from Barnes & Noble.
Riggio鈥檚 near-half-century reign began in 1971 when he used a $1.2 million loan to purchase Barnes & Noble's name and the flagship store on lower Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. He acquired hundreds of new stores over the next 20 years and, in the 1990s, launched what became a nationwide empire of 鈥渟uperstores鈥� that combined a chain鈥檚 discount prices and massive capacity with the cozy appeal of couches, reading chairs and cafes.
鈥淥ur bookstores were designed to be welcoming as opposed to intimidating,鈥� Riggio told The New York Times in 2016. 鈥淭hese weren鈥檛 elitist places. You could go in, get a cup of coffee, sit down and read a book for as long as you like, use the restroom. These were innovations that we had that no one thought was possible.鈥�
He grew up working class in New York City, liked to say he preferred socializing with childhood pals over fellow business leaders and was informal enough among associates to be known as 鈥淟enny.鈥� But in his time no one in the book world was more feared. With the power to make any given book a bestseller, or a flop, to alter the market on an idle whim, Riggio could terrify publishers simply by suggesting prices were too high or that he might sign up such top sellers as and and publish them himself. He even tried to buy the country鈥檚 biggest book wholesaler, Ingram, in 1999, but backed off after facing government resistance.
By the end of the 1990s, an estimated one of every eight books sold in the U.S. were purchased through the chain, where front table displays were so valuable that publishers paid thousands of dollars to have their books included. Thousands of independent sellers went out of business even as Riggio insisted that he was expanding the market by opening up in neighborhoods without an existing store. Instead, independent owners spoke of being overwhelmed by competition from both Barnes & Noble and Borders Book Group, the rival chains sometimes setting up stores in close proximity to each other and to the locally owned business.
Barnes & Noble became so identified as an overdog that one of the 1990s鈥� most popular romantic comedies, 鈥淵ou鈥檝e Got Mail,鈥� starred Tom Hanks as an executive for the 鈥淔ox Books鈥� chain and as the owner of an endangered independent store in Manhattan.
鈥淲e are going to seduce them with our square footage, and our discounts, and our deep arm chairs, and our cappuccino,鈥� Hanks鈥� character confidently declares. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to hate us at the beginning, but we鈥檒l get 鈥檈m in the end.鈥�
Acrimony from independent booksellers
For a time, it seemed industry conversation was an ongoing response to Barnes & Noble. Publishers were known to change the cover or title of a book simply because a Barnes & Noble official had objected. 鈥淎ngela鈥檚 Ashes鈥� author Frank McCourt found himself condemned by the the trade organization for independents, after agreeing to appear in a Barnes & Noble commercial. On the floor of the industry鈥檚 annual national trade show, long hosted by the ABA, independent store employees would hiss at attendees wearing Barnes & Noble badges.
When novelist , addressing Barnes & Noble鈥檚 annual shareholder meeting in 1995, declared that he was both a stock holder and a happy B&N customer, some independent sellers stopped offering his books.
鈥淵ou must know that I鈥檒l never read, buy or sell another word you write,鈥� Richard Howorth, owner of Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi, wrote to him. 鈥淭hese are the kindest things I can think of to say to you.鈥�
Tensions led to legal action when the ABA 鈥� on the eve of the 1994 convention 鈥� announced it was suing Barnes & Noble and five leading publishers for unfair trade practices. Some of the publishers were so angered they boycotted the gathering the following year and only returned after the ABA sold the show to Reed Exhibitions. In 1998, the ABA sued Barnes & Noble and Borders for unfair business practices (both cases were settled out of court).
The internet shifts bookselling
Riggio began the 2000s at the height of power, with more than 700 superstores and hundreds of others outlets. But internet commerce was growing quickly and Barnes & Noble, with its roots in physical retail, lacked the imagination and flexibility of the startup from Seattle that called itself 鈥淓arth鈥檚 Biggest Bookstore,鈥� Amazon.com. The online giant launched in 1995 by gained business throughout the 2000s and by the early 2010s had displaced Barnes & Noble through such innovations as the Kindle e-book reader and the Amazon Prime subscription service.
Bezos would liken himself to David taking down Goliath, although the contrast between the leaders also had the feel of an Aesop鈥檚 fable: The muscular, mustachioed Riggio, a boxer鈥檚 son, upended by the quick and clever Bezos.
鈥淲e鈥檙e great booksellers; we know how to do that,鈥欌�� Riggio 鈥淲e weren鈥檛 constituted to be a technology company.鈥�
Barnes & Noble started its own online site in the late 1990s, but such initiatives as the Nook e-book reader and a self-publishing platform failed to stop Amazon. Not even the collapse of Borders after the 2008-2009 economic crisis mattered for Barnes & Noble, which after decades of expansion closed more than 100 stores between 2009 and 2019.
An unlikely ally of independent booksellers
By the time of Riggio鈥檚 retirement, independent sellers regarded the chain not as a threat, but as an ally in the fight against Amazon to keep physical stores alive. At the 2018 booksellers convention, Riggio and ABA CEO , once enemies in business and in court, praised each other during a joint appearance.
鈥淢y standing here, doing what I鈥檓 about to do (introduce Riggio) would have been impossible to imagine several years ago,鈥� Teicher said at the time. 鈥淭he simple fact is that our business is stronger and American readers benefit when there is a vibrant and healthy network of brick-and-mortar bookshops all across the country.鈥�
During the 2010s, Barnes & Noble seemed unleadable and unwanted. The board announced in 2010 that the company was for sale, but no one offered to buy it. Four CEOs left in five years and Barnes & Noble鈥檚 stock dropped 60% between 2015 and 2018. New rumors of a sale lasted for months before Elliott Advisors, which had previously purchased the British chain Waterstones, bought Barnes & Noble for $638 million and hired Waterstones chief executive James Daunt to lead B&N.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 miss being a business person, I had enough of that. But I do miss the bookselling part, helping to find books to recommend to customers,鈥� Riggio told Publishers Weekly in 2021.
Riggio's roots and early bookselling ventures
Bookselling and family often overlapped for Riggio. His brother Steve Riggio served for years as vice chairman of Barnes & Noble and another brother, Vincent 鈥淛imi鈥� Riggio, helped run a trucking company that shipped the store鈥檚 books. After being interviewed in 1974 by the trade publication College Store Executive, Leonard Riggio met for coffee with the editor, Louise Gebbia, who seven years later became his second wife (Riggio had three children, two with his first wife, one with his second).
Leonard S. Riggio was the eldest son of a prize fighter (who twice defeated Rocky Graziano) turned cab driver and a dress maker. Even in childhood, he advanced quickly, skipping two grades and attending one of the city鈥檚 top high schools, Brooklyn Tech. He studied metallurgical engineering at New York University鈥檚 night school before focusing on commerce, and by day absorbed the bookselling world and the rising cultural rebellion of the 1960s.
Working as a floor manager at the campus book store, he learned enough to drop out of school and start a rival shop in 1965 鈥� SBX (Student Book Exchange), where he allowed student activists to use the copying machine to print copies of anti-war leaflets. SBX was so successful he bought several other campus stores and was in position by 1971 to buy Barnes & Noble and its single Manhattan store. A few years later, he became the rare bookseller to run television commercials, with the catchphrase 鈥淏arnes & Noble! Of Course! Of Course!鈥�
Riggio and the independent community may have seemed to hold opposing values, but they shared a love of reading and the arts and a liberal political outlook. He was a generous philanthropist and a prominent supporter of Democratic politicians. He was even friendly with the consumer activist and presidential candidate , who featured Riggio, and among others in his 2009 novel 鈥淥nly the Super-Rich Can Save Us!鈥�, in which Nader imagines a progressive revolution from above.
鈥淓ver since he was a boy from Brooklyn, he鈥檇 had a visceral reaction to the way workings stiffs and the poor were treated on a day-to-day basis,鈥� Nader wrote of Riggio, who did at times stand apart from his management peers. When some 200 business leaders were questioned by Fortune magazine in the 1990s about their political ideas, only Riggio supported the raising of worker pay.
鈥淢oney can become a burden, like something you carry on your shoulders,鈥� he told New York magazine in 1999. 鈥淢y nature is to be a ball-buster, but my role is to help people.鈥�
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This story has been updated to correct the names of Riggio's second wife and one of his brothers. They are Louise Gebbia, not Louise Altavilla, and Vincent 鈥淛imi,鈥� not Thomas.
Hillel Italie, The Associated Press
