Barnes & Noble was previously located at 150 East 86th Street (Google Maps)
Barnes & Noble will be opening a new bookstore at 1556 Third Avenue at the corner of 87th Street, the company has announced. It’s slated to open in the spring of 2023.
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B & N closed its previous location at 150 East 86th Street in the summer of 2020, after 12 years in the neighborhood. The new location takes over the storefront previously occupied by Duane Reade and is situated directly across the street from Whole Foods.
“It is very good news to bring our bookstore back to the Upper East Side. It was very sad to close in the depths of the pandemic and [it’s] especially pleasing now to reopen with one that is so dramatically more attractive. We take over a beautiful building with an old-style character with which it is a pleasure to work in creating the new bookstore,” said James Daunt, CEO of Barnes & Noble.
Barnes & Noble has opened 16 new stores this year, and has announced development plans for over thirty new locations to open in 2023. In the past, one or two openings per year was the book seller’s usual rate of expansion.
“Our booksellers in NYC are to be very busy. Not only do we have the excitement of reopening on the Upper East Side, we are also to open in Brooklyn and begin the refurbishment of our existing bookstores with the complete overhaul of our Upper West Side bookstore,” said Amy Fitzgerald, VP of Stores, Barnes & Noble. “The years of backpedaling are well and truly over for bookselling in NYC. In the meantime, this is a very strong fall for publishing, and we look forward to welcoming existing and ever more new customers into our bookstores this Holiday.”
Customers can follow updates on the opening on social media by following the handle @bnuesny.
This is thrilling news and it is long overdue. Thank you B&N!
Great news!
Barnes and Noble had been on 86th street for much, much longer than 12 years. It was at the location where Fairway is between 2nd and 3rd. Before that, it was at the location where Petco is, next to Best Buy at the corner of 86th and Lex. AND BEFORE THAT, it was right next to the garage adjacent to Modern State, near the south west corner of 86th and Lex. There was even 2 periods of time where there were 2 stores on 86th, with the one near Best Buy operating as the main store in the neighborhood while the original location by Modern State (previously Toy Park) transitioned to only children’s books. Then, when the location now occupied by Fairway close to 2nd ave. opened and the store on the south west corner of Lex closed, the store near Best Buy remained opened. All in all that’s more than 30 years in the upper east side, not 12. I’m a native of the Upper East Side and I can’t remember a time (prior to now) where Barnes and Noble was *not* on 86th street.
I concur with Emmanual on Barnes and Nobel’s presence on the Upper East Side. It was so disheartening to see it close right at the time the pandemic reared its ugly head. It should have known better than to leave. Tsk tsk. I hope this new space will be wonderful and long lasting!
Agreed. It’s even longer – I remember the SW corner in the late 70s, that’s 45+ years. 86 Street was a fun place to shop:Gimbel’s, Toy Park, Woolworth’s etc.
Thank you!