vely recent additions to the New York City bookstore scene.  Now, Barnes & Noble has reported that the strategy is working.  “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 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,” the company stated in a press release last week. In 2024, Barnes & Noble added 57 stores to its network, opening more new doors in one year than in the entire period from 2009 to 2019. The retailer announced that it expects to open over 60 new bookstores by the end of 2025.  Can Barnes & Noble sustain this pace of growth? Retail experts such as CI&T’s global director of retail strategy Melissa Minkow and Global Data’s managing director Neil Saunders are optimistic about the retail giant’s rebound.  “Many people assumed that books would go completely digital, in a similar way to music or movies. But it hasn’t worked out that way. It turns out that consumers quite enjoy the experience of visiting a physical bookstore and that they like the sensation of physical books,” Saunders noted. He elaborated that consumers’ desire to return to physical bookstores, paired with the “huge dose of customer centricity injected into it by James Daunt”, has made Barnes & Noble more relevant to shoppers and helped drive loyalty and foot traffic.  “James has basically breathed new life into an established concept,” Saunders said.  As someone who “grew up hanging out at Barnes & Noble”, Minkow has been following the retailer’s turnaround with interest. The CI&T executive believes Barnes & Noble was smart to leverage the cultural forces at play, such as the interest in reading spurred by BookTok, which has caused a resurgence in interest and demand for the brand. For a longer-term bricks-and-mortar growth strategy, Minkow noted that factors like consumers’ growing desire for third spaces, Gen Z’s growing appreciation for physical retail and the return of reading as a mainstream hobby are aiding Barnes & Noble’s comeback. However, Minkow also warned that growing too quickly may not be the wisest route for Barnes & Noble, as it is not a category that lends itself to needing a store on every corner. That being said, she sees an opportunity for Barnes & Noble to “build these 60 new stores out in ways that allow consumers to continue to see the retailer as an experiential destination”.  For example, Barnes & Noble could explore food and beverage brand collaborations, co-working space developments, or potentially a lower-cost membership program.   Similarly, Melissa Gonzalez, principal of MG2, a retail architecture and design firm, suggested that Barnes & Noble can build on its current momentum with relevant programming initiatives.  “The brand has given its stores a lot of independence, fostering a local or independent feel,” Gonzalez stated. “There is a lot of curation in-store as well as robust programming, like author readings and book signings, which puts Barnes & Noble at the nucleus of the book community.” She also noted that with the renewed influence of book clubs, from those run by celebrities like Oprah Winfrey or Reese Witherspoon to newer ones influenced by BookTok, Barnes & Noble is in a prime position to cash in on this type of social program.  The retailer has “an opportunity to ride this wave and to benefit from it. If they can dominate the physical footprint that complements that, they become a home base for the entire movement,” Gonzalez said. “Borders has closed down and Amazon no longer has physical bookstores. There is a real opportunity for a brand with Barnes & Noble’s legacy to take the mantle,” she said.