Barnes & Noble to close a third of its stores over the next decade

Barnes & Noble booksellers will shutter about a third of its locations in the next decade, as consumers increasingly move over to digital books. 

The chain had 689 stores as of January 2013, along with a chain of 674 college bookstores, according to Reuters. At its peak in 2008, B&N had 726 stores, Mashable reported.  

"In 10 years we'll have 450 to 500 stores," Mitchell Klipper, CEO of the company's retail group, told the Wall Street Journal. "You have to adjust your overhead, and get smart with smart systems. Is it what it used to be when you were opening 80 stores a year and dropping stores everywhere? Probably not. It's different. But every business evolves." 

Barnes & Noble isn't the only bookstore corporation to feel the squeeze of digital publishing. In 2011, longtime competitor Borders went out of business, which many said was a result of its reluctance to move into e-books, according to Mashable.

The Nook, Barnes & Noble's e-reader, has seen some success, but the company's overall value has dropped by 10 percent since it spun off its e-book venture into a partnership with Microsoft, Mashable reported.

The company has also partnered with textbook publisher Pearson, CNET reported. 

What do you think of bookstore chains closing down? Let us know in the comments. 

More from GlobalPost: Microsoft invests $300 million in Barnes & Noble's Nook e-books