RELATED: Walmart Is Closing These Stores Permanently on May 20.
RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. In January, Boston.com reported that the Barnes & Noble location in Saugus, Massachusetts, was closing permanently due to the landlord redeveloping the property and not renewing the bookstore’s lease. Additional locations are facing a similar fate—the first of which is located on Granite Street in Braintree, Massachusetts. The company announced the closure in a Facebook post in Dec. 2021, again stating that the location’s landlord had “chosen to redevelop this space for another tenant.” In the social media post, it was confirmed the store would close on May 22, but had plans to relocate nearby. However, there has not been confirmation on where or when that will be. As reported by The Boston Globe, the Braintree location nearly closed in Feb. 2020. Having operated for 26 years at that time, the location was able to negotiate with the building landlord after customers sent emails “protesting the closure.” In addition to the Braintree location, a Barnes & Noble at the Prudential Center in Boston also announced it would be closing up shop. The news came via Facebook, once again due to an issue with the building landlord. The post stated store operators “were unable to reach an agreement” with the landlord and would be closing on June 19. Despite these closures, Barnes & Noble’s sales have increased, according to The New York Times—up by 3 percent in 2021 when compared with 2019. Book sales specifically were up by 14 percent since the start of the pandemic. Having once been seen as the “big bad wolf,” consuming other independent sellers with mass marketing, the company has turned its critics into cheerleaders. RELATED: This Popular Chain Is Closing 145 Stores This Year.
