Barnes & Noble Concedes The O.J.-Confession-Craving Customer Is Always Right
After throwing their arms up at the futility of deciding whether O.J. Simpson's If I Did It should be stocked in their Hypothetical Memoirs section, in their Sociopathic Self-Help section, or in their How To section shelved alphabetically under "double homicide," Barnes & Noble ultimately decided not to carry the book at all, claiming their buyers anticipated demand would be too low to warrant it. But that was before it skyrocketed to the #1 spot on their website's Hourly Top 100 charts (it's currently idling at #11), offering a keen financial incentive to backpedal on their original decision:
After saying it would not stock copies of If I Did It in its stores, citing lack of customer demand, the chain told The Associated Press on Thursday that it would indeed carry the book.
Since the initial decision on Aug. 21 against stocking the book, but selling it online, Barnes & Noble spokeswoman Mary Ellen Keating said: "We've been monitoring the pre-orders and customer requests and have concluded that enough customers have expressed interest in buying the book to warrant stocking it in our stores. We do not intend to promote the book but we will stock it in our stores because our customers are asking for it."
And with that, Barnes & Noble now joins the ranks of fellow morally compromised chain Borders, who had pledged all along to stock the book, albeit with none of the fanfare they usually reserve for Michael Crichton's latest laser-mounted velociraptor adventure. Surely, the brisk sales can only be good news for Fred Goldman, who sweat blood and tears to wrest the publishing rights away from Simpson, and whose seal of approval on every cover—reading "The Ron Goldman Foundation for Justice Authorized Edition"—assures buyers of the veracity of the guilty, gory admissions they can expect for their $24.95.
