Barnes & Noble to open new Hillsborough County store

Barnes & Noble is opening a new store in Brandon.

The bookseller’s new location will be at 2428 W. Brandon Blvd. in the Regency Square shopping center across the road from where the chain has operated a store for 29 years. 

The new location, between Petco and Five Below, is scheduled to open Aug. 23 and will feature the chain’s new store design, which is brighter and more inviting.

The previous store closed Aug. 8, according to a Facebook post.

Barnes & Noble, which was sold in 2019 to the parent company of Waterstones, the largest retail bookseller in the U.K., made a similar move in Tampa earlier this year, closing an existing store with a much larger footprint and moving into a new space that fit its new design concept.

The bookstore chain is growing after years of seeing its store numbers decline, according to a statement announcing the opening. The company says that last year it opened more new stores, 16, than it had between 2009 to 2019 and that it expects to open more than 30 this year.

To mark the grand opening, Barnes & Noble will hold a book signing with author Lincoln Child, a best-selling writer of techno-thrillers with partner Douglas Preston.

Michael Connelly, the internationally known crime writer behind the Harry Bosch series of novels and Tampa resident, cut the ribbon and signed books when the chain opened the new Tampa store earlier this year.