By Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton, Seattle Times business reporter
Bookworms, rejoice: Barnes & Noble plans to return to downtown Seattle, according to recent city filings.
The bookseller has leased a property, previously occupied by The North Face, at 520 Pike St. in the city’s Central Business District, per a permit filed Monday.
The company’s website has the store slated to open in April.
The leased building includes two floors and more than 14,000 square feet of floor area, according to related filings last month.
The company didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Downtown Seattle has lacked a Barnes & Noble bookstore since January 2020 when a former location at Pacific Place shopping center shuttered. Another of its stores had closed in West Seattle a year earlier.
The city remains home to two Barnes & Noble bookstores: one at Northgate Station and University Bookstore in the U District, where it took over the trade books department in July.
“Long ago, we had a bookstore at University District and the return of large scale, general bookselling to such a vibrant community is long overdue,” Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt said in a statement at the time.
The company, headquartered in New York City, has announced a slew of store openings and reopenings over the past year after a period of uncertainty competing against online book sellers. Its website says Barnes & Noble is located in 50 states and is the country’s top book retailer. (continued on Page 2 or here)