Ohhh Man. Yes. I can totally identify with working at B&N Café. I worked at one for a few months and absolutely hated myself for doing so.

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Let me tell you how much I really...really...hated that job with a fiery passion! Somehow at the end of a few months I developed a hatred so strong for this place that I couldn't even set foot in the store without losing it. Like every time a customer would just destroy you it's like you were expected to just take it and apologize and be this submissive glutton for punishment. Seriously, I've worked some terrible fast food positions and was blow away by how crappy workers were treated there, and also appalled at how much they seemed to not care either. Hence, I didn't last.

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To answer your question, though, I think it might take a while for them to die off if they do. If their lifespan is determined by how they treat their workers, then I would say not that long. In retail, you can only push people so far before they start losing their minds. And I worked with some absolute PSYCHOS at my store. I guess I can't blame them, though. I would probably lose my mind too. The B&N that I worked at was carefully positioned in a shopping complex next to a large cinema and a shopping outlet with other restaurants and a Whole Foods. Also, this entire shopping centre was nestled in the center of an upper-middle class neighborhood. So it's almost like because of the social ritual of "going out" that businesses like this thrive.

As much as I hate B&N, my guess is that they'll be around for some 15-20 years. Eventually people will outsmart the system of buying inflated in-store prices when they could buy way cheaper online. But I think their sales derive from the 'impulse buy' of seeing something and wanting it right now.