Leafy, green shoots are sprouting up from the pages.
A new Barnes & Noble bookstore is opening on Wednesday near the bustling corner of Clark and Diversey in Chicago. The Lincoln Park location will occupy about 8,000 square feet in a recently closed Urban Outfitters store.
Barnes & Noble plans another outlet at a massive space in a former historic bank building at 1601 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Wicker Park. The bookseller will open two other locations in the Chicago area — Oswego, and Northbrook.
“We generally want a bookstore everywhere. Every community, we think, needs a bookstore,” Janine Flanigan told Crain’s Chicago Business. “We were really missing the Chicago market,” she added.
Flanigan, Barnes & Noble’s senior director of store planning and design, told WTTW-Ch. 11: “Barnes & Noble is experiencing a period of tremendous growth right now, and we are opening stores across the country.”
The new stores will capitalize on the reemergence of books as a popular touchstone of entertainment and enlightenment. Books are back.
Smaller, independent booksellers have been feeling the buzz since the pandemic forced us to stay at home with few options read, watch TV or just twiddle our thumbs.
Now, corporate entities such as Barnes & Noble have realized a trend is afoot. Behemoths move slowly. This one is finally figuring out that to remain relevant, it needs to expand the books footprint. When the big guys start investing, you know a big page has turned.
Barnes & Noble closed all its stand-alone stores in the Chicago area years ago. Now the company is diving back in, with the prospect of more stores to come.
Books may not be a leading economic indicator, but something is happening here. Book sales are up, a very hopeful sign.
In the United States, “print book sales have improved, and unit sales now consistently surpass 700 million per year,” according to consumer data and research firm Statista. While audio and e-books have a share of the market, the ink-and-paper version “remains the most popular book format among U.S. consumers, with 65 percent of adults having read a print book in the last twelve months,” Statista reported earlier this month.
Last month, the Tribune reported that the independent booksellers market is enjoying a “revival.” We can never have enough bookstores.
“There are dozens of independent bookstores across Chicagoland, each with distinct book recommendations and storefronts that owners say reflect the communities they’re in,” the Tribune reported.
Bring it on. Independent booksellers are the beating heart of culture and community.
The city’s North Side hosts numerous examples. There are long-standing gems such as Unabridged Books in Lakeview and Women and Children First in Andersonville. On the South Side, there’s 57th Street Books in Hyde Park.
These stores have weathered the ups and downs in the business for decades. They know their market and serve it well.
Booksellers hold a special place in my heart. I love the idea behind the 1917 tome by Christopher Morley, “Parnassus on Wheels,” the saga of a traveling bookstore. Now, that’s a lark!
Books demand attention, and we should heed the call. The Barnes & Noble opening is an auspicious moment. The marketplace is acknowledging that there are attractive brick-and-mortar alternatives to the dime-a-dozen discount books online.
Books are best when sold in places where readers can converse with the authors, meet other readers and pick up book recommendations.
The new Barnes & Noble outlets may stoke fears of unwanted competition among the smaller independents. No worries. The smalls bring a unique blend of neighborhood character and charm, a place where readers get the personal touch. The biggies offer the scale and diversity the independents can’t match.
It’s all good. Evangelizing books is a cause to celebrate. They are a precious comfort and a formidable tool. In these times, we are in dire need of both.
As you gear up for summer leisure and vacation time, may the books be with you.
Laura Washington is a political commentator and longtime Chicago journalist. Her columns appear in the Tribune each Monday. Write to her at LauraLauraWashington@gmail.com. Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.