Barnes & Noble opened 67 bookstores in 2025, a recent record. Now it’s plotting another year of expansion |
Barnes & Noble is on a roll, and it’s not slowing down in 2026.
The bookstore has confirmed plans to open 60 new locations across the country in 2026. For Barnes & Noble, the move is part of a major comeback that’s been years in the works.
After the company saw a sales peak in 2008, it spent a decade watching sales dwindle as customers moved to other retailers (especially digital booksellers like Amazon), ultimately leading the retailer to shutter 150 stores.
In 2019, the company was acquired by the UK’s Elliott Advisors and taken private.
But since 2023, Barnes & Noble has annually added dozens of new locations across the U.S. A post-pandemic boom in the bookstore economy and an influx of new readers from online communities like