Barnes & Noble to reopen at Old Orchard shopping center; Hyde Park location coming soon
Barnes & Noble was set to reopen in Skokie on Wednesday, just weeks after it closed.
The bookstore was to hold a grand opening at 10 a.m. at its new location in the Westfield Old Orchard shopping center. Author Hayley Gelfuso will cut the ribbon and sign copies of her novel, "The Book of Lost Hours."
The new two-story Barnes & Noble is located in a space formerly occupied by Zara, near Loft and the Cheesecake Factory. It will measure nearly 23,000 square feet.
The store's previous location was just around the corner. It closed last month as part of renovations to the shopping center.
Barnes & Noble has had a location at Westfield Old Orchard since October 1994.
Barnes & Noble said the Skokie location is one of four to open in Illinois this year. A location is also opening next month in the Hyde Park neighborhood, specifically in the Hyde Park Shopping Center at 1524 E. 55th St. It will measure 18,000 square feet and include a café, according to the Hyde Park Herald.
The shopping center was formerly home to the Hyde Park Co-Op Market, which dissolved in 2008, and then Treasure Island Foods, the local grocery chain that went completely out of business in 2018.
Trader Joe's and Vicinity Credit Union now occupy parts of the space.
Hyde Park is known for its independent bookstores, including partner stores Seminary Co-op and 57th Street Books, Powell's Books, and Call & Response Books. Another famous Hyde Park bookstore — O'Gara and Wilson Ltd., cited in published reports as Chicago's oldest bookstore — closed in 2013 and moved to Chesterton, Indiana.
The local shopping initiative CIRCULATE has come out against the Hyde Park Barnes & Noble, and held a "love bomb" event at Call & Response Books this past weekend to protest Barnes & Noble and its "private equity comeback."
Also in Hyde Park, Barnes & Noble also operated the University of Chicago bookstore for 29 years, until the university switched vendors to Follett Higher Education in 2024.
Barnes & Noble stores are also planned for Oak Park, and the former Old Navy space at 150 N. State St., which at one time also housed a Borders Bookstore, according to published reports.
