Yahoo Finance Barnes & Noble is planning in-store restaurants so we’re moving in
Barnes & Noble is planning in-store restaurants so we’re moving in
We love bookstores. As Jen Campbell wrote in The Bookshop Book, “Printed books are magical, and real bookshops keep that magic alive.” Bookstores are magical places, and if we could live in one, we would. Now Barnes & Noble has decided to tempt us to stay even longer in their stores by adding in-store restaurants, thus making the ability to stay inside one longer a reality.
The last remaining major bookstore chain announced at an investor conference this past Thursday that it will open four “concept stores” that will feature bars offering beer and wine and food (including full breakfast, lunch, and dinner) in cafés “twice the size of its usual food spots.” As we all know, Borders closed a few years ago, and this is Barnes & Nobles latest attempt to not follow suit. We’re rooting for you, guys!
The first concept store will open in Eastchester, N.Y. in October and have amenities like a fire pit and bocce court. What? That just sounds like a cool hipster bar — color us intrigued! The three other stores will be in the Galleria Edina in Edina, Minnesota, the Palladio at Broadstone mall in Folsom, California, and One Loudoun, a mixed-use community in Loudoun County, Virginia. Those of you who live nearby– mark your calendars!
“We wanted to create a better bookstore,” Jaime Carey, Barnes & Noble’s President of Development and the Restaurant Group, told Fortune. “We already have a cafe, so we said let’s have a much better food experience frankly. We think they’re going to drive traffic to the store and keeping them in the store longer.”
We definitely think this sounds like a fun idea! Who wouldn’t love to read some books, eat some food, and then play some bocce ball? Or sip a nice dry Riesling while browsing the travel section and dreaming of visiting distant lands? That’s something Amazon certainly can’t offer.
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