Brian Sawyer

A Peek Behind the Shelving at B&N

While browsing the Crafts section of my local Barnes & Noble, I stumbled upon a couple interesting documents, nestled behind a few knitting books in one of their displays. I’m not sure entirely what to make of them, but there must be something to learn from them, so I thought I’d post them here and solicit feedback.

The first printout seems pretty straightforward: it’s a dated promotional inventory of books to rotate on the special “Knit/Crochet” display (which is a very important placement to have, because their whole Crafts section is a mess of thin-spined titles smashed tightly against each other in the relatively small shelf space allotted to the category).

The purpose of the second printout is less clear to me, though I must admit that the List Name for this group of titles intrigues me (wtf needlecrafts):

If anyone has any information to add about either of them (especially the meaning of the second), I’d love to hear it.

UPDATE: It has just been brought to my attention that, though I’d assumed the more colorful meaning of WTF (e.g., “Here’s where to put all the needlecraft books that make you say “WTF”), it’s more likely that the list is an in-store printout used by staff to help point people toward a high-demand subcategory. In this case, “WTF Needlecrafts” means where to find needlecrafts. (Thanks, Dan!)