FIRE AND FURIOUS
B&N misses out on blockbuster Trump book
Embattled Barnes & Noble on Friday missed out on one of the biggest book bonanzas in recent memory — the debut of the much buzzedabout “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.”
None of the chain’s 632 stores across the country had the red-hot book when they opened their doors Friday morning — a situation the company blamed on the weather and the publisher, Henry Holt & Co., which moved up the publication date to Friday from Jan. 9.
The retailer, whose shares had already stumbled out of the gate on Friday, falling 15 percent on disappointing holiday sales results, had no choice but to turn away disappointed customers.
At a Midtown Barnes & Noble, the first delivery of the book, about 90 copies, came at about 1 p.m. and sold out in 20 minutes, according to a store clerk.
The store wasn’t expecting any additional copies until next week — and the same was true for all B&N stores across the country, a spokeswoman said.
Holt, an imprint of Macmillan, was “frantically” pressing ahead with a second printing to meet demand, sources said, having badly underestimated demand for the 336-page book.
Holt did not return calls for comment.
To be sure, Barnes & Noble was not the only retailer to miss out on the beginning of the “Fire and Fury” stampede.
Greenlight Bookstore, which has two locations in Brooklyn, was expecting the book to arrive from its distributor Friday afternoon — but it never did.
“We have more on back order but the publisher is chasing the book and neither they or our distributors can tell us an exact turnaround time,” co-owner Rebecca Fitting told The Post. “It could be as early as next week, or . . . not.”
The book was the No. 1 Kindle seller on Amazon on Friday — which may have been helped by its lack of availability at brick-and-mortar stores.
While the Trump White House has blasted the book, the publicity has helped spur interest — and sales, experts said.
Among the first retailers to receive the work were independent sellers like Kramerbooks in Washington, DC, which got approximately 75 copies on Thursday and began selling them at the stroke of midnight.
The store sold out within two minutes, according to a spokeswoman, which had international and domestic camera crews camped outside its store early Friday.
“Knowing the general premise of the book, we are not surprised that it sold out,” said spokeswoman Leah Frelinghuysen. “We know what will play well here.”
“It feels like the indie stores with an ear to the ground had an inkling of how big this would be,” said one book distribution executive who did not want to be identified. “They did a better job than the larger outlets and chains.”
Even mighty Amazon.com can’t deliver a hard copy of the book before two to four weeks, according to its Web site on Friday.
At B&N, not having the book will hurt. Holiday same-store sales fell 6.4 percent — while online sales fell 4.5 percent.
B&N shares closed Friday down 14.2 percent, to $5.60.