I believe that Downtown's point was that it was the Riggios who turned the chain into a behemoth (at its peak, because, unfortunately, as everyone has alluded to, bookstores are dropping like flies). And I tend to agree with him.

And then there's the sinister side that I also alluded to. They killed the independent bookstore virtually overnight back in the '90s. And now they're being eaten alive by Internet sales and the almighty ebook. I'd call it karma, but business is business. And machines and technology of some sort have been putting people out of work since they invented the wheel.