Once digital became a viable alternative many people just assumed that print books, and thereby bookstores, would go away.

That was a big bet on the idea that cheaper prices for digital books would make people forget that the experience of reading an actual book is somehow better. E-readers like the Kindle have been around since 2007, but they have never gained real traction.

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Better phones have made dedicated readers less necessary and innovations in that space have largely stopped. Yes, physical books cost more than digital ones, but you can’t display a library of e-books.

Actual books look good on your shelf and they make a statement about. Nobody has their Kindle as their backdrop for their video meetings, but many people have a bookcase showing off what they’ve read (or what they planned to read).

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The early days of digital books, however, did touch off a slow decay for Barnes & Noble. The chain operated huge stores and could do nothing to stop people from browsing its shelves then ordering from Amazon (either an e-book or a digital one).

That period was also marked by Barnes & Noble making bad decisions, like laying off all of its middle management book experts, but the chain has since recovered. Now, under new management, the chain has reemerged and it’s one of the fastest growing retail chains in the United States.

Barnes & Noble will still sometimes be a place for Amazon buyers to browse.

Image source: Mordant/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The state of the book industry  

Americans actually prefer print books to digital ones, and bookstores has actually been a growing industry. Yes, we’ve lost Borders, Waldenbooks, B. Dalton, and other chains, but Books A Million, local players, and a resurgent Barnes & Noble have filled some of that space. 

“There was 64,559 bookstores in the US businesses as of 2024, an increase of 5.3% from 2023. The number of bookstores in the US businesses has grown 5.3% per year on average over the five years between 2019 and 2024,” according to data from IBIS World.

Pew Research also did a recent study that shows that traditional print is still the most popular reading format for both adults and children.

Survey says:

• 75% of adults in the United States read a book in some format over the last year
• 32% of Americans claim they only read print books
• 33% say they read both print books and e-books
• 9% say they only read e-books
• 23% of the respondents said that they don’t read books

Traditional books may have suffered a little, but e-books never really took over the market. Now, Barnes & Noble has been reclaiming some of its former glory. 

Barnes & Noble opening new stores

For decades, Barnes & Noble has struggled with its retail footprint. Many of its legacy stores were too big, especially once the chain mostly dropped CDs and only had a small record section.

The chain tried to fill that space with toys, other novelties, collectible games, and various other items, but the stores were just too big. As leases have come up, some locations have moved to better locations and other stores have been rightsized.

And, after a long period of getting smaller, the bookstore giant has returned to growth.

“Barnes & Noble is enjoying a period of tremendous growth as the strategy to hand control of each bookstore to its local booksellers has proven so successful,’ the company shared in a press release.

Basically, each location is being run like a community bookstore. Managers have more leeway over events and what they stock in their stores.

“The bookseller is experiencing strong sales in its existing stores and has been opening many new stores after more than 15 years of declining store numbers. In 2024, 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 over 60 new bookstores in 2025,” it added. 

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The chain has even gone back to communities where it used to operate a store. 

“As we open new bookstores across the country it is especially gratifying to come back to communities we once served,” said CEO James Daunt. “Even more so here, where we not only return to Bryn Mawr, but to the exact address we once proudly occupied. This new Bryn Mawr Barnes & Noble is a testament to readers’ ongoing desire for bookstores as a place of discovery and community, and we are very pleased to be back.”