WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. — Call it a new chapter for Barnes & Noble.
The popular bookstore at Lehigh Valley Mall held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday morning to celebrate a return to its updated original location.
The store closed in July 2023 for renovations at its location at 801 Lehigh Lifestyle Center, adjacent to The Cheesecake Factory, LOFT, lululemon and across from Pottery Barn.
Barnes & Noble operated in a temporary lower-level location — the former home of Modell’s Sporting Goods and Track 23 — since August.
"The store now offers a more intuitive shopping experience.”Candice Magnus, assistant store manager, Barnes & Noble
“The reopening of this store is a long time coming,” store Assistant Manager Candice Magnus said as patrons rushed past her near the entrance.
“We’ve lost about one-third of our space [it's down to 18,000 square feet], that The Cheesecake Factory now has.
“But this is so much better, so much brighter and open. It feels cleaner. In the past, the lights were darker and the carpets were dark.
"It’s easier to navigate. The store now offers a more intuitive shopping experience.”
The new location showcases the highly lauded bookstore design seen in the most recent Barnes & Noble store openings — housing all the best books, toys, games and gifts that customers have come to expect from the nation’s premier bookseller.
“We also sell CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs and vinyl,” Magnus said.
The bookstore also houses an updated B&N Café, featuring Starbucks coffee, and baked goods.
'They want you to wander around'
On Wednesday, patrons lined up along the sidewalk outside the store well before the doors opened at 9 a.m.
Many were on hand to buy and have signed by The New York Times’ best-selling author James McBride his 2023 novel “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.”
“It’s a very interesting set-up.”Amy Ruhf, vocal music teacher at Shawnee Elementary School in Easton
It's a page-turner murder mystery about small-town secrets and the people who keep them in Pottstown.
“I’m grateful people enjoy my books,” said McBride, 66, who resides in Lambertville, New Jersey. "As you get older, you just want to leave something behind that people like.”
Susan Misanko of Northampton was among the first in line. A rabid reader of books, she is a member of the Baker’s Dozen Book Club in the Lehigh Valley.
“I’ve missed this location of Barnes & Noble,” Misanko said, her copy of "The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store" in tow. “I’m glad it reopened here.”
The new store configuration is shopper-friendly, inviting book lovers to stroll wide aisles and explore all genres of writing.
“They want you to wander around the store,” said Amy Ruhf, vocal music teacher at Shawnee Elementary School in Easton, as she perused the Fiction book section.
“It’s a very interesting set-up.”
Wednesday’s reopening was among four Barnes & Noble stores to open: two in Illinois and another in Texas.
In 2023, Barnes & Noble opened more new bookstores in a single year than it had from 2009-19. The bookseller said it expects to open more than 50 new bookstores this year.
