B&N plans to open five stores in Chicago angers Volumes

In the US, Barnes & Noble (B&N) has announced plans to open five new bookstores in the Chicago area from the coming US spring, after earlier sharing its goal to open 50 new stores this year, reported Publishers Weekly (PW).

In a statement, B&N CEO James Daunt said the area ‘has suffered more bookstore closures than almost anywhere in recent years’ and that B&N were ‘very pleased to reverse this trend so emphatically’.

Said Daunt: ‘We restore Barnes & Noble bookstores to four neighbourhoods and, in the beautiful Noel State Bank building in Wicker Park, add a new one for us.’ The latter has caused controversy, however, with the owner of Volumes, an independent bookseller in the area, telling PW the store would ‘go nuclear if B&N got any help from the city or the state’ to move into the Wicker Park space.

Defending B&N’s plan in an email to a Volumes customer, Daunt said: ‘I defend entirely our opening in Wicker Park, whilst also maintaining my commitment to never open a bookstore which threatens the sales, let alone the livelihood, of an independent bookseller of new books.’

Category: International news