Kendall's Barnes & Noble has a closing date. But a new one will open soon after
Sept. 24, the book chain said in an Instagram post.
That's when the 55,824-square-foot Barnes & Noble building at Kendall Village shuts down to allow for the pending arrival of a supersized Rooms to Go furniture store in its space.
MORE: Could one of the biggest Rooms to Go in the country replace a beloved Kendall bookstore?
Where will the new Barnes open?
But, as revealed in March, a replacement Barnes & Noble is opening one mile east, down the block in the same neighborhood, at the Palms at Town & Country shopping plaza, said Janine Flanigan, a vice president of store planning and design for Barnes & Noble.
Barnes & Noble recently posted a thank-you to its customers in announcing the closing and opening of its Kendall stores.
'Though it's hard to say goodbye, this isn't the end — just a new beginning. A brand-new chapter awaits at our new location, opening soon in the fall at Town & Country,' the post said.
The new Barnes & Noble bookstore, albeit smaller at about 20,000 square feet, has been taking shape for months in the former Forever 21 space at 8525 Mills Dr. at Town & Country. Signage is in place.
'We are very fortunate to have found a new location nearby,' Flanigan told the Herald in March.
Kimco Realty, which owns and operates the Town & Country open-air plaza, said in a statement that bookstores like Barnes & Noble are re-surging post-pandemic, when we were shut in. Interest is spurred by social media and a desire for in-person experiences.
'We're confident the Kendall community will be thrilled to welcome back their beloved Barnes & Noble showcasing their new design,' Katie Wycoff, director of real estate at Kimco, said in a statement.
The new Barnes & Noble is tentatively scheduled to open in the fourth quarter, according to Kimco, likely in October, leaving a slight gap.
What the new Barnes will sell
The new location will carry a similar inventory mix as the closing West Kendall Barnes: books, toys, games and vinyl record albums, which, for several years, have surged with younger music listeners who are buying contemporary releases by Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter and the TikTok-fueled Fleetwood Mac that inspired these songwriters and that their parents once bought in the millions.
This September's big new releases in the record department has TikTok users in a tizzy, and likely B&N lures, include Carpenter's 'Man's Best Friend,' with its controversial album cover, and especially Rhino's long-awaited (try more than 45 years) Sept. 19 reissue of the out-of-print 'Buckingham Nicks.' That's the 1973 'BN' album that directly led Mick Fleetwood to invite a then-unknown Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham into what became the 'Rumours' era Fleetwood Mac.
Some of the fall's hottest new book releases, according to Barnes & Noble, include such titles as Patrick Ryan's exclusive B&N edition of 'Buckeye: A Novel;' a Maurice Sendak-illustrated version of 'Hansel and Gretel' with words by horror master Stephen King; and Elin Hilderbrand and her daughter Shelby Cunningham's 'The Academy: A Novel.'
Michelle Obama's fashion book 'The Look' is also tipped as a fall nonfiction hot title, along with Margaret Atwood's 'Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sort' and Cher's 'The Memoir: Part Two.'
The Palms at Town & Country Barnes & Noble will also include a B&N Café, Flanigan said.
'The new design is beautiful, open and inviting.'
The departing Barnes & Noble building at Kendall Village, which originally had an attached Michaels arts and crafts store that has since closed, opened Thanksgiving week in 1996. It was called 'one of the biggest, flashiest Barnes & Noble bookstores in the nation' by the Miami Herald.
Ahead of the closing, that location is promoting sales on inventory including 25% off books and markdowns between 50% and 20% on book annex and music and video-related items like DVDs, Blu-rays and CDs for the few that still collect physical media (aside from vinyl LPs) in the age of streaming.
'More than just a bookstore, the location has been a cornerstone for the community, serving as a hub for late-night study sessions, the discovery of first books, and countless shared memories,' Kendall Social posted on Instagram.
'Been going to this location since I was a little girl. Going to be tough to see it leave but also really happy you guys aren't moving too far,' Stephanie Ramirez commented on the Barnes & Noble Instagram post.
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