Iconic bookstore Barnes & Noble that was wildly popular in the 1990s is continuing its comeback, with more than 60 brick-and-mortar stores planned across the U.S. in 2026 including one in Illinois.
“For 2026, we are planning to open another 60 stores across the country, not only entering new markets, but to return to those we once served,” a statement from the company sent to NBC Chicago said. “Barnes & Noble is enjoying a period of tremendous growth as the strategy to hand control of each bookstore to its local booksellers has proven so successful. We are experiencing strong sales in our existing stores and have been opening many new stores after more than 15 years of declining store numbers.”
States where store leases are confirmed for 2026, Barnes & Noble said, include Ohio, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Colorado, Washington state, Washington D.C., California, Virginia and Georgia.
According to a report from Block Club Chicago, a Barnes & Noble store in Hyde Park is set to open in February 2026. The book store did not immediately return NBC Chicago’s request for comment on the location.
The new stores follow several that have have opened in the Chicago area over the past few years, including one in a historic building in Wicker Park that once housed Walgreen’s famous “Vitamin Vault.” The bookstore also opened in Lincoln Park, Northbrook and made a comeback to Westfield Old Orchard Mall in Skokie.
The bookstore also recently reopened a number of stores that closed during the 2000s, including in Park Slope, Brooklyn; Long Beach, California; and Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
In some cases, the new stores are in the same locations as ones that closed nearly more than 20 years ago.
“The long period of decline from 2009 to 2020 included the closures of over half the Barnes & Noble bookstores in NYC,” a release for the re-opened Park Slope store, which had originally closed in 1997, said. “Since then, the bookseller has opened new stores on the Upper East Side and on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, as well as refurbishing the Upper West Side bookstore. In 2024, Barnes & Noble opened more new bookstores in a single year than it had in the whole decade from 2009 to 2019. The bookseller expects to open over 60 new bookstores in 2025.”
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