Barnes & Noble Announces Opening Date For Barn Plaza Doylestown Store

DOYLESTOWN, PA ? The Barnes & Noble store under construction at the Barn Plaza on Route 611 in Doylestown Township has an opening date.

The national bookseller is targeting Wednesday, Sept. 4 for its grand opening, Janine Flanigan, the store's vice president of store planning and design, tells Patch.

"We'll have a dual ribbon-cutting ceremony with a local author and a longtime employee doing the honors," said Flanigan. "We usually have a children's literary character inside the store. And the store will be setting up a series of events for the day. There will be giveaways and several book signing events."

The store will be opening inside a brand new 11,300-square-foot space at the heart of the Barn Plaza and next to the new Whole Foods store, which is slated to open later this year.

According to Flanigan, the new Doylestown Barnes & Noble will incorporate the company's latest store designs featuring a light oak color scheme and books arranged in a series of thematic nooks, each designed to capture an intimate, independent bookstore feel.

"It's intended to take you on a journey throughout the store," said Flanigan of the new design. "One nook will lead you to the next and each of the rooms are related to each other so you're going from a fiction room to a mystery room into a horror room and then through to the kid's department," said Flanigan. "We like to put each subject in their own room and that gives our store managers the opportunity to highlight and display the best books in that particular category."

The store's "new release" section will be given a place of prominence just inside the front doors of the new Doylestown store, with the space opening up from there into the more intimate book nooks and crannies housing all the best books, toys, games and gifts that customers have come to expect from the national bookseller.

One element that will be missing in the new store design is the cafe. "In this store, we weren't able to add the Barnes & Noble Cafe and that's simply because of the size of the store and the facility," said Flanigan. "Unfortunately, it just didn't allow for a cafe."

According to Flanigan, Barnes & Noble is enjoying a period of tremendous growth as its
strategy to hand control of each bookstore to its local booksellers has proven successful for the chain.

In 2023, Barnes & Noble opened more new bookstores in a single year than it had in the whole decade from 2009 to 2019. The bookseller expects to open more than 50 new bookstores this year, in including Doylestown.

"We're excited to open in Doylestown," said Flanigan. "We hope everyone joins us at the grand opening or grand opening weekend. We're looking forward to welcoming everyone to the new store."

This will be Barnes & Noble's third store in Bucks County. The bookseller also has locations in Falls Township and at the Neshaminy Mall in Bensalem. The Barn Plaza, which is owned and operated by Brixmor, is also home to Kohl's Department Store, Douglas Jewelers, Piccolo Trattoria, Gerhard's Appliances, Honeygrow, Mattress Firm, and others.

"Brixmor is committed to adding best-in-class retailers that meet the needs of the Doylestown community," said Maria Pace, a spokesperson for Brixmor last year in announcing the addition of Barnes & Noble to the plaza. "We believe the addition of Barnes & Noble will not only attract a diverse customer base, create job opportunities, and increase foot traffic for existing tenants, but will also serve as a welcoming space, fostering community engagement and cultural enrichment."