COSTA MESA, CA — A new Barnes & Noble just opened its doors at South Coast Plaza, marking its fourth new store in Orange County.
The store is situated on the third floor of the retail center's Macy's Home wing and is a sprawling 27,000 square feet.
The store takes the place of the former Spots Chalet, and before that, a Borders Books and Music, The Orange County Register reported.
The opening comes after Barnes & Noble announced that it would open more stores for readers to shop at in 2026.
According to USA Today, the company said in 2025 that despite almost two decades of "declining store numbers," the store would open 60 new locations across the country in 2026.
"Barnes & Noble is enjoying a period of tremendous growth as the strategy to hand control of each bookstore to its local booksellers has proven so successful," the bookstore chain said in a statement published by USA Today. "In 2024, Barnes & Noble opened more new bookstores in a single year than it had in the whole decade from 2009 to 2019."
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