Looking for a summer read? Barnes & Noble is on track to open more than 60 new bookstores this year. Here’s where

Jul 3, 2025 - 21:14

0 0

Looking for a summer read? Barnes & Noble is on track to open more than 60 new bookstores this year. Here’s where

Nothing says summer more than a trip to the beach, and for many people, that includes the perfect summer read.

If you’re looking, here’s some good news: After a decade of downsizing, partly due to Amazon’s rise combined with changes in consumer behavior, bookstores are back—with Barnes & Noble leading the renaissance with a major expansion, on track to open over 60 new bookstores in 2025 alone, according to a spokesperson for the bookseller. The retailer currently runs approximately 600 bookstores nationwide, as well as BN.com online.

Halfway through the year, Barnes & Noble told Fast Company it has already opened 23 bookstores in 2025. “[We] are enjoying a period of tremendous growth as the strategy to hand control of each bookstore to its local booksellers has proven so successful,” a spokesperson for Barnes & Noble said. “We are experiencing strong sales in existing stores and have been opening many new stores as a result.”

In the early 2000s, Barnes & Noble opened 30 stores or more a year, but simultaneously closed about half that number too, according to The Wall Street Journal. By 2013, a decade later, it was on track to close about a third of its brick-and-mortar retail stores, and would continue shrinking over the next 10 years. But by 2023, consumer demand was back, and the bookseller started ramping up again.

As Fast Company previously reported, the resurgence is thanks in large part to social media, in particular, TikTok’s #BookTok. But some credit also goes to a rise in so-called third spaces—places people are flocking to post-pandemic that are neither home nor work, as Americans seek real connection amid an epidemic of loneliness now plaguing our nation (especially among Gen Z). As Americans spend more time at home and on their devices, many now have fewer friends (particularly men) and fewer social outlets. But many new bookstores today are opening with a cafe or even a bar to allow for more interaction, like New York City’s Book Club Bar and Bibliotheque, or (my personal favorite) Boston’s romance novel bookstore, Lovestruck Books.

“Bookstores are a social spot to gather and offer that third space that online shopping cannot provide,” Barnes & Noble told Fast Company. “Our booksellers are knowledgeable and can provide a dedicated customer service to the in store shopper.”

Here’s a list of locations where Barnes & Noble has already opened new stores, as well as a list of states where it will be opening new locations in 2025.

New Barnes & Noble locations opened in 2025

Pennsylvania: 2935 Concord Rd, York, PA 17402
- 720 W Lancaster Ave. Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
Virginia: 9840 Brook Rd, Glen Allen, VA 23059
- 1961 Chain Bridge Rd, Tysons, VA 22102
- 8139 Stonewall Shops Square, Gainesville, VA 20155
Arizona: 2011 E. Camelback Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85016
Connecticut: 775 Main St S., Southbury, CT 06488
- 1145 High Ridge Rd., Stamford, CT 06905
Washington: 10330 59th Ave. Southwest, Lakewood, WA 98499
- 775 NW Gilman Blvd, Issaquah, WA 98027
- 1140 Bellevue Square, Bellevue, WA 98004
Ohio: 3708 W. Dublin-Granville Road, Columbus, OH 43235
- 5501 Dressler Rd. NW, North Canton, OH 44720
Illinois: 9 Jackson Ave, Naperville, IL 60540
Florida: 13123 N. Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa FL 33618
- 151 N US Highway 1, Tequesta, FL 33469
- 4149 Tamiami Trail N., Naples, FL 34103
New York: 301 Walt Whitman Rd., Huntington Station, NY 11746
Nebraska: 7949 Towne Center Pkwy, Papillion, NE 68046
Michigan: 2236 E. Beltline Ave NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49525
Texas: 12850 Memorial Drive, Houston, TX 77024
California: 2475 Sand Creek Rd, Brentwood, CA 94513
Colorado: 550 Marshall Rd, Superior, CO 80027