In a information surroundings full of gloomy tales concerning the decline of brick-and-mortar retail, we’ll take the wins the place we will get them.
Barnes & Noble is constant its sizzling streak this yr, having already opened a formidable 32 shops throughout greater than 20 states since January, the bookseller advised Quick Firm on Friday. For context, that’s more than the 30 stores it had deliberate to open in all of 2023.
In whole, the corporate mentioned it was on observe to open 58 new areas earlier than 2025—extra shops than it’s opened in a single yr since at the very least 2009.
Again then, Barnes & Noble was dealing with what regarded like existential threats from Amazon and the broader shift to on-line commerce, to not point out a decline in print media that had many business insiders questioning the long run viability of books. Amazon’s first Kindle was launched in 2007 whereas Barnes & Noble adopted up with its Nook e-reader two years later. At one level, it was dedicating a very good chunk of treasured shelf house to the sterile-looking units.
However bodily books and bookstores have each confirmed surprisingly sturdy within the period of social media, aided by passionate on-line communities, Fb-driven e-book golf equipment, and TikTok’s ever-popular #booktok hashtag. Unbiased shops are additionally experiencing a resurgence, with the American Booksellers Affiliation telling the Related Press that its 2023 membership has practically doubled from 2016.
Barnes & Noble’s ongoing development is particularly notable in a yr when legacy retail manufacturers from Big Lots to Rite Aid are closing important numbers of areas and shrinking their bodily footprints. Some corporations, such because the Sam Ash chain of music shops, are folding altogether.
As we reported final yr, Barnes & Noble’s model transformation—from ’90s-era company superstore to pleasant neighborhood bookseller preventing the nice combat towards Amazon’s algorithmic dominance—has been an enormous a part of its current success. Its newer shops are typically smaller and higher designed than the large and unwieldy areas it was recognized for 15 years in the past. Having a pleasant pile of latest releases on the prepared for TikTok influencers most likely doesn’t damage.
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Beneath is a full listing of cities the place Barnes & Noble has opened or plans to open new areas this yr.
Shops opened in 2024 to date
January
- Estero, FL
- Ledgewood, NJ
- Redding, CA
- Visalia, CA
- Kalispell, MT
February
- Jonesboro, AR
- Panama Metropolis Seaside, FL
- American Fork, UT
March
- Columbia, SC
- Victor, NY
- Gainesville, FL
- Meriden, CT
April
- Harmony Mills, NC
- New Orleans, LA
Might
- Dubuque, IA
- Dawsonville, GA
- Mooresville, NC
- South Portland, ME
- Sandy Commons, Southtown, UT
- Clark & Diversey, IL
June
- Oswego, IL
- Lehigh Valley, PA
- Selma, TX
- Northbrook, IL
- Rochester Hills, MI
July
- Wesleyan Plaza, TX
- Flowood, MS
- Conroe, TX
- Lake Orion, MI
- Denham Springs, LA
August
- Santa Fe, NM
- Fayette, KY
Shops on observe to open earlier than 2025
- Future, NY
- Santa Monica, CA
- Doylestown, PA
- Las Vegas, NV
- Cool Springs Galleria, TN
- Rehoboth Seaside, DE
- Alamo Ranch, TX
- Sawgrass, FL
- Allen, TX
- Huntington, NY
- Walden Galleria, NY
- Tucson, AZ
- St Louis Galleria, MO
- Murray, UT
- Wicker Park, IL
- Georgetown, DC
- Schereville, IN
- Wichita, KS
- Manassas, VA
- Waterford Lakes, FL
- Brentwood, CA
- Park Metropolis, UT
- Seabrook, NH
- Mt Kisco, NY
- Monmouth Sq, NJ
- Issaquah, WA