RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: NPR's business news starts with bookstores closing shop.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: The Wall Street Journal reports that Barnes & Noble plans to close as many as a third of its stores over the next decade. Right now, the company operates almost 700 of its big box stores. Chief executive Mitchell Klipper told The Wall Street Journal he expects that number to drop as low as 450. The company insists this isn't a retreat, just realistic planning - noting that most of its bookstores remain profitable. But that the bigger trend in sales is into bookstores but online.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Moving on to China, where Nintendo and Sony stock have received a boost. The state-run China Daily newspaper reports the country is considering lifting its ban on video game consoles. The paper cited an unnamed source in the country's Ministry of Culture. China banned video game consoles in the year 2000, fearing they would cause developmental damage in young people. Gaming is still popular in China, but most of it is done online or on mobile devices.
Barnes & Noble plans to close up to a third of its stores over the next decade, according a report in The Wall Street Journal. And in China, the state-run China Daily reports the country is considering lifting its ban on video game consoles.