Barnes & Noble New Store Openings

[Alpha8472]

Barnes & Noble is opening up a new store in Concord, California. I never thought that this chain would dare open up a new store. The chain already closed 2 nearby stores in the cities of Pleasant Hill and Walnut Creek, California in the past few years.

The 1997 Pleasant Hill store was a single level store in a strip mall next to a Target. It did decent business and closed to due to losing their lease to HomeGoods. The 1997 Walnut Creek store was one of the crown jewels of the entire chain. It was a fancy two story building in the very affluent downtown of Walnut Creek. It was large and opulent. There were large windows and skylights. The second floor had an entire wrap around outdoor balcony with tables. The second floor had a huge Barnes & Noble Cafe serving Starbucks drinks and Cheesecake Factory food. The music department was the largest that I had ever seen in a Barnes and Noble. The selection of music and movies was unmatched by any other Barnes and Noble. It was very close to a movie theater and was always packed. The store lost its lease to Anthropologie which created a huge new store that is also quite spectacular.

The new Barnes & Noble is being built in a new shopping center that was once home to Chevron's Concord Corporate Offices. They demolished several huge office buildings and chopped down hundreds of trees. It used to look like a shady forest over there, now it looks like a barren desert. The new Veranda shopping center is massive and will have a movie theater, stores, and restaurants.

Whole Foods is also opening one of its new 365 Markets in the shopping center.

[Super S]

There is still a niche that Barnes & Noble can fill as chains such as Borders and Hastings disappear. There are some towns where the only book store was a Hastings or a Borders and no longer have a bookstore of any kind. Keep in mind that the stores which once were mall staples such as Waldenbooks and B. Dalton are long gone and in some instances Barnes & Noble has opened stores in malls to take their place.

[norcalriteaidclerk]

One of the most recently opened new stores is in Folsom and was long planned before the economic crash delayed it for quite a few years.I have read they have been experimenting with a new store format that includes an in-store restaurant that is a step up from both the in-store Starbucks or BN cafe in established locations.

[Alpha8472]

The Folsom Barnes and Noble opened in December. I have read the Yelp reviews and they seem to very positive. The restaurant serves beer, wine, and very high quality food. Waiters are dressed to the nines. There is also Starbucks available. I think that Barnes and Noble has found a way to bring people back to their stores by investing in really good food. The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Browsing books lets you discover many books that you never would have found by scrolling through a website. Books and magazines always catch the eye in person. It is difficult to see all of that artwork on a website.

Barnes and Noble has been adding more and more products to their stores. I found many interesting puzzles, toys, and souvenirs at their stores. Their Star Wars collectibles and figures are really upscale and high quality. I really like the selection and find it to be much more interesting than the cheap low quality stuff that you find at Target and Toys R Us.