A Barnes & Noble in Washington, D.C. is hoping the sequel is healthier than the unique.
The ebook retailer this month opened a three-story, 30,000-square-foot retailer within the coronary heart of D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood, straight throughout the road from a Rag & Bone, Bluemercury and Lululemon. The situation was as soon as the location of a jail, a movie show, Henry Ford’s first dealership within the D.C. space — and a really acquainted ebook retailer. Barnes & Noble itself occupied the identical constructing in 1995 till it will definitely vacated the area in 2011.
The fiction part in Barnes & Noble’s new retailer in Washington, D.C.
Kaarin Moore/Retail Dive
Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt known as the D.C. area the “most bold” of the corporate’s new areas.
“The previous location was a incredible retailer for Barnes & Noble. We left the area as a result of our lease ended,” a spokesperson for the corporate stated by e-mail. “When the chance to open a retailer in that actual location got here up, we couldn’t resist to return to our previous constructing and as soon as once more have a location in Georgetown.”
The D.C. retailer is an element of a bigger brick-and-mortar enlargement technique, whereby Barnes & Noble is launching dozens of areas throughout the U.S. after over 15 years of declining retailer numbers. In 2023, the retailer opened extra new bookstores in a single 12 months than it had in the whole decade of 2009 to 2019.
Kaarin Moore/Retail Dive
The corporate is now on monitor to open round 58 shops by the tip of the 12 months. In November alone, Barnes & Noble will launch areas in New York, Florida, Utah, New Hampshire, Indiana, Kansas, California, New Jersey and Washington.
Solely every week prior to the launch in D.C., a retailer opened in Chicago’s Wicker Park within the historic Noel State Financial institution constructing, in what Daunt stated was one of the vital “lovely bookstores wherever on the planet.”
A part of the bookseller’s overarching technique, and what’s taking the corporate right into a interval of progress, is handing the management of every location over to its native booksellers.
“The assortment has been curated by our Georgetown ebook workforce and can replicate the pursuits of the world,” an organization spokesperson stated of the D.C. retailer.
The area’s first stage accommodates new ebook releases, presents and a whole again wall of journals. Guests to the second stage will encounter fiction whereas the highest flooring options nonfiction. The shop options non-public label Barnes & Noble merchandise, seasonal presents, an intensive toy and sport choice and an expanded vinyl assortment.
Non-public label “studying socks” by Barnes & Noble
Kaarin Moore/Retail Dive
The Georgetown retailer added new fixtures and furnishings however saved the present inside of the constructing. That features columns and hardwood flooring from Nike, the tenant previous to this iteration of Barnes & Noble. The area will finally have a restaurant that’s scheduled to open in 2025.
Barnes & Noble was acquired in 2019 by Elliott Administration, proprietor of Waterstones, the biggest bookseller in the UK. Daunt, who’s the CEO of Waterstones in addition to Paper Supply, additionally took on the function of chief government of Barnes & Noble.
On the time of the acquisition, Daunt hinted on the strategic trajectory of its brick-and-mortar shops, a few of which has come to fruition by way of this newest spherical of openings. The inclusion of toys in shops and changing into a present vacation spot — objectives that have been said in 2019 — can clearly be seen within the Georgetown location.
The primary flooring of Barnes & Noble in Washington, D.C.
Kaarin Moore/Retail Dive
However ebook retailer gross sales total have but to return to pre-pandemic ranges. Final 12 months, U.S. gross sales within the class reached $8.3 billion {dollars}, comparatively flat in comparison with the 12 months prior, in response to Statista knowledge.
Don’t inform that to customers in Georgetown, although. The retailer has been open for lower than two weeks and has already seen packed crowds, carried out creator signings and even held a pop-up that includes merch in collaboration with South Korean boy band Ateez.
“The return to this historic constructing is a dramatic instance of the continued revival of brick-and-mortar bookstores,” Daunt stated.
