Two years after Barnes & Noble launched a store inside the Saint Louis Galleria, the bookstore chain is ready to do it again: It plans to open a 25,000-square-foot store in what was once an Office Depot in Creve Coeur. The store, located just west of I-270 on Olive Boulevard in the Heritage Place strip mall, is planning a November 18 grand opening.
Like its fellow megastore Borders Books & Music, Barnes & Noble was once considered a casualty of Amazon. But under CEO James Daunt, the chain is again growing. A veteran British bookseller, Daunt told Axios that to achieve the turnaround, he brought “the principles of independent bookselling to a chain and exploded the very notion of what a chain retailer really is.” That included empowering local managers and removing random products with little connection to books.
In St. Louis, that local manager is Jolene Crismon Carter, who also opened the Saint Louis Galleria store in 2024. She tells SLM that Barnes & Noble will have nine stores in the region once the Creve Coeur shop is open. “We’re encouraged by the response we’ve seen in the market and remain excited about opportunities to serve more readers throughout the area,” she says in an email. “As a company, Barnes & Noble plans to open approximately 60 new stores this year and a similar number next year. Stay tuned. . . there may be more exciting news to come in the St. Louis market.”…