Leonard Riggio, founder and former chairman of Barnes & Noble, Inc. (Image credit: Nathan Smith Studios)
The man credited with transforming the book publishing industry has died.
Leonard Riggio, founder and former chairman of Barnes & Noble, died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a family statement. He was 83 years old.
Riggio founded Barnes & Noble in 1971 (with a $1.2 million loan) when he acquired the trade name and single location in Manhattan. He built a retail empire that became the largest bookstore operator in the country.
At the end of the 1990s, an estimated one in eight books sold in the United States was purchased through the chain, according to a AP Report, which also stated that in Riggios At that time, “nobody in the book world was feared anymore.”
“With the power to make any book a bestseller or a flop and to change the market at will, Riggio could terrify publishers by simply suggesting that prices were too high or that he could sign top sellers like Stephen King and John Grisham and publish them himself,” the report said.
In building a nationwide chain, Riggio focused on opening “superstores” that combined the low prices and huge selection of a chain with comfortable seating and in-store cafes that invited people to linger.
