Barnes & Noble Opens New Store in Westport on Wednesday, February 24

Barnes & Noble Opens New Store in Westport on Wednesday, February 24

Press are Invited to Visit the Store, and Take Photos and Video of New Barnes & Noble in Downtown Westport

Store will officially open with a ribbon cutting by local author Liv Constantine at 10:00am

WESTPORT – (February 22, 2021) – Barnes & Noble is thrilled to announce the opening of a new bookstore in Westport, CT on Wednesday, February 24, 2021.  The store is the first to show the new design direction now taken by Barnes & Noble for its bookstores and represents a radical change in appearance from the old store in Westport which closed at the end of December. The newly designed Barnes & Noble is light and bright, with bespoke oak shelving and custom designed tables curated with the Westport customer in mind.  

The new store will officially open to the public with a ribbon cutting by local bestselling author Liv Constantine at 10:00am on Wednesday, February 24. Other local authors, including Rowan MacColl, Maria Scrivan and Jane Green, will also be stopping by with pre-signed books during the opening weekend.

The new bookstore replaces the original Barnes & Noble in Post Plaza Shopping Center which is to be redeveloped by the landlord. It is a smaller building but with its clever design holds almost the same number of book titles as the old bookstore. It has large rooms for children’s books and has a full selection of toys, board games and puzzles.

“Our new Westport store is an emphatic statement of our confidence in the future of physical bookstores. This beautiful store, filled with good books and cared for by experienced booksellers, offers a wonderful experience”, says James Daunt, who became the new CEO at Barnes & Noble in September 2019.  “The pandemic has given a huge boost to our online sales, of course, but we are confident that book lovers want to return to real bookstores. We think we have created a really special bookstore in Westport.”

"We are so excited to reopen in our new location near Bedford Square in Downtown Westport, in the old Restoration Hardware location.  It is our first new store in Connecticut in nearly fifteen years!  This new store is bright and beautiful, with big windows that let in so much light,” says Store Manager Deni Fitzgerald. “My experienced staff and I are all transferring from the former location and cannot wait to welcome customers, old and new, to the store to show them ‘this is our shop that we have made for you’. I have been a bookseller for over 20 years, and I am sure that between the beauty of the new shop, the fantastic selection, and my team's knowledge and experience in the trade, booklovers are going to be thrilled. ​”

As at all its stores, Barnes & Noble has a number of COVID related safety precautions in place for both our customers and booksellers. The safety measures customers will find in the new store includes:

• Enhanced cleaning throughout the day;
• Social distancing measures of at least six feet for customers and booksellers, including a limit to the number of customers at any one time, and in-store signage;
• Protective barriers at our registers to separate customers and booksellers;
• Booksellers are always required to wear face masks;
• All booksellers have temperature checks before shifts;
• Curbside delivery for Buy Online, Pick Up In Store orders

Barnes & Noble Westport is located at 76 Post Road East, and online on social media, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, by searching the handle @BNWestport

Press are invited to tour the store. For any questions, or to set up an interview, please reach out to Barnes & Noble at [email protected].