The historic American bookstore chain Barnes & Noble is once again making a strong push into brick-and-mortar stores and has confirmed that it will open more than 60 new locations throughout 2026 in the United States. This move solidifies the company's turnaround, following a long period of closures and a loss of presence in neighborhoods and shopping centers.
These new bookstores join the dozens of openings the company has carried out in 2024 and 2025, completely reversing a trend of more than 15 years of network reduction . The firm asserts that its commitment to stores managed with greater autonomy by their own booksellers is yielding very positive results in sales and in connecting with reading communities.
A plan for more than 60 new stores by 2026
The company itself has explained in several statements that, by 2026, it plans to open more than 60 new bookstores across the country . The goal is not only to reach areas where they haven't had a presence until now, but also to return to neighborhoods and cities where Barnes & Noble was present in the past and was forced to close during the years of budget cuts.
According to information shared with various US media outlets, lease agreements have already been signed in states such as Ohio, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Colorado, Washington State, Washington DC, California, Virginia, and Georgia . The company, however, has not yet provided specific addresses or an exact opening schedule, beyond indicating that they will open gradually until mid- to late 2026.
In cities like Chicago, for example, new openings have been announced in neighborhoods with a strong reading tradition. One of the upcoming bookstores will be located in Hyde Park and is scheduled to open in February 2026 , thus reinforcing the chain's presence in the metropolitan area after its expansion into other locations such as Wicker Park, Lincoln Park, Northbrook, and the Westfield Old Orchard shopping center in Skokie.
This boost comes on top of the reopening of historic stores that had disappeared during the worst years of the industry crisis. Barnes & Noble has reopened stores in places like Park Slope (Brooklyn), Long Beach (California), and Bryn Mawr (Pennsylvania) , in some cases even in the same locations where they closed more than two decades ago.
A strategic shift after years of decline
The current expansion plan comes after a prolonged period of hardship. Between 2009 and 2020, the chain experienced a clear decline, with massive closures that halved its number of bookstores in key cities like New York . The historic Park Slope location, for example, had closed its doors in 1997, and its reopening perfectly illustrates the new direction the group is taking.
The company itself has noted that 2024 marked a turning point: more new bookstores opened in a single year than in the entire decade between 2009 and 2019. This shift in pace has continued throughout 2025, with a long list of openings across numerous states, and will expand even further with the more than 60 stores planned for 2026.
Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble has been renovating older stores in strategic locations. In New York City, in addition to the reopening of Park Slope, new bookstores have opened on the Upper East Side and on Atlantic Avenue (Brooklyn) , and the Upper West Side location, one of the chain's flagship stores, has been completely renovated.
Outside of New York, the company has reopened and opened stores in a wide variety of locations, from residential neighborhoods to large shopping malls . In recent years, stores have been added in cities such as Naperville (Illinois), La Jolla and Napa (California), Miami and Tampa (Florida), Bellevue and Issaquah (Washington), Gainesville (Virginia), and Hamilton (Ohio), to name just a few examples from an ever-growing list.
Where is the new wave of openings concentrated?
The information shared by the company and the media outlets that have closely followed this expansion allows us to draw a rough map of its territorial strategy. Most of the new leases are located in states with large populations and high purchasing power , such as California, Texas, Florida, and Illinois, but also in growing markets in the Midwest and the East Coast.
In Illinois, for example, in addition to the recently opened stores in the Chicago area, at least one new location is confirmed for 2026. In Ohio, the company has already invested in cities like Dublin and Hamilton, and plans to continue expanding its presence with new locations. A similar trend is occurring in Florida, where stores have been added in Lakeland, Naples, Tampa, Tequesta, and specific areas of Miami, and where the chain will continue to strengthen its network.
On the West Coast, the brand is consolidating a network of bookstores in California and Washington state , with locations already operating in places like Brea, Brentwood, Los Gatos, La Jolla, Napa, Bellevue, Lakewood, Issaquah, and Puyallup, and plans to continue adding stores in these same territories during 2026. In Colorado, they have also opted for locations with a strong commercial component, such as the Glenwood Meadows area or the Superior area.
The expansion isn't limited to major metropolitan areas. In states like Texas, the chain combines urban locations in cities like Houston and Austin with stores in suburban and mid-sized areas , such as Abilene, Brownsville, Burleson, Rockwall, and Spring. This pattern, which mixes large urban centers with mid-sized municipalities, suggests a strategy designed to attract both downtown readers and shoppers in large retail parks.
What kind of bookstores is Barnes & Noble opening?
Beyond the specific locations, the group is committed to a store model that goes beyond simply selling books. The new bookstores combine a selection of titles with other cultural and leisure products , such as music, toys, board games, and gifts, and many of their locations also include cafes.
This approach aims to make bookstores function as meeting places and leisure spaces for the community , not just as points of sale. It's common for these establishments to have reading areas, children's activities, book presentations, or book clubs, although the specific programming depends on each bookstore and its local management.
One of the key points that Barnes & Noble itself emphasizes is the autonomy it grants to the booksellers in each store . Instead of centralizing all decisions, the company is delegating a significant portion of the control over the assortment, book layout, and other activities to the team working on the ground, with the aim of better adapting each space to the neighborhood it serves.
According to statements released by the company, this decentralization has been crucial to the sales surge its physical stores are experiencing. The combination of a broad catalog, a carefully curated local selection, and a comfortable environment for browsing books seems to be working, even in a context marked by the rise of e-commerce.
A veteran of physical books facing the rise of the online channel
Barnes & Noble's return to growth comes in a market where physical books coexist with fierce competition from online retailers. The chain competes directly with giants like Amazon , both in price and convenience, which has forced it to rethink its value proposition and adapt to the challenges of digital books and e-readers.
In this context, the company emphasizes the role of its bookstores as spaces where customers can discover books, browse new releases, and receive recommendations from expert staff —something difficult to replicate in purely digital environments. The reopening of iconic locations and expansion into new neighborhoods aim to capitalize precisely on this experiential and personal touch.
The company has also undergone several changes in ownership and management throughout its recent history. In 2019, it was acquired by the hedge fund Elliott Investment Management in a deal valued at $683 million, including debt. Since then, the new shareholder has pursued a strategy aimed at stabilizing the company and restoring growth through more flexible store management.
With roots stretching back to the 1870s, when Charles Barnes began selling books from his home in Illinois , the company has gone through multiple phases. His son William, along with G. Clifford Noble, shaped the current brand in 1917, and Leonard Riggio acquired it in 1971, leading its transformation into one of the largest bookstore chains in the United States. The current cycle of openings adds a new chapter to a history marked by constant adaptation to industry changes.
Impact and potential implications for the European market
Although the announcements focus on the United States, Barnes & Noble's offensive of more than 60 new stores by 2026 is relevant to the international bookstore ecosystem , including Europe and countries like Spain. The shift towards reopening physical stores and the commitment to local teams suggest that, even with the strong presence of online commerce, there is still room for large chains if they manage to connect with their local communities.
In the European context, where the network of independent bookstores and national chains continues to have an important weight , the case of Barnes & Noble can be interpreted as an example of how a large operator tries to approach the logic of the neighborhood bookstore: more autonomy for those who manage the space, more cultural programming and an offer that combines books and leisure.
Looking ahead, the development of this plan, which includes more than 60 new openings, will serve as a barometer to gauge the extent to which the large brick-and-mortar bookstore model can remain competitive against online shopping and the fragmentation of leisure time. If the results are positive, it wouldn't be surprising if other international or European chains closely observed this strategy.
With all these pieces on the table, the planned expansion for 2026 confirms that Barnes & Noble has left behind the phase of closures and cutbacks to enter a period of growth supported by more than 60 new physical stores, the reopening of iconic locations and a management much more focused on the bookseller in each neighborhood, in a clear attempt to reconcile the large chain format with the proximity of the traditional bookstore.
