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Despite strong economic growth over the last year, some brick and mortar retailers are still having trouble fighting the e-commerce tide. Barnes & Noble had a poor holiday season of sales, and will be forced to fire employees. Jeffrey Trachtenberg writes:

The bookseller, which declined to say how many staffers are being cut, said in a securities filing that it will take a charge of about $11 million in its third fiscal quarter ended Jan. 27 related to severance costs.

The retailer said the layoffs, which will also affect people involved in receiving products into stores, are expected to be completed by Friday and should save about $40 million annually.

The country’s largest publicly traded bookstore chain has struggled in recent years as its largest rival, Amazon.com Inc., gained market share, both in physical and digital books.

For the nine-week holiday period ended Dec. 30, comparable-store sales fell 6.4% and online sales declined 4.5%. In recent quarters, the bookseller has struggled to generate revenue growth even as it has opened two new stores and focused on getting more shoppers to make actual purchases.

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