Barnes & Noble may come to Meridian. What will happen to the Boise store?
Book lovers could soon have another option for browsing in Meridian, if a permit request filed with the city is any indication.
The permit application filed Nov. 15 suggests national bookseller Barnes & Noble could be planning to open a new store at the Village in Meridian.
The permit indicates the store would be located at 2260 N. Eagle Road, Suite 100, and would involve a renovation of a space used by a Gordmans department store that closed in 2020 after the store’s parent company filed for bankruptcy.
The $458,950 renovation would be for a “retail bookstore with coffee cafe,” according to the permit, which was filed by New Jersey-based design firm WJCA, whose clients include Barnes & Noble. The store would have about 20,000-square feet and would be located next to a Nordstrom Rack that recently announced it would be opening at the Village in about a year.
Janine Flanagan, Barnes & Noble’s vice president of store planning and design, could not confirm to the Idaho Statesman that the store is coming, but said via email that she “hope(s) to be able to announce something soon.”
“Our wonderful store in Boise will continue to operate as usual,” Flanagan said.
Barnes & Noble has three stories in Idaho, including one on North Milwaukee Street in West Boise. The Meridian permit application was reported by BoiseDev.
If a Barnes & Noble is indeed coming to the Village, it would be located across the street from Half Price Books, a secondhand bookstore, and less than a mile from Seagull Book, which sells faith-based, Latter-day Saints books.
Justin Masi, the store manager of Half Price Books on Fairview Avenue, told the Statesman he’s glad people might have another place to find books in Meridian, and that he believes his store offers something different than a Barnes & Noble might.
“What you’re going to get in a Half Price Books is that weird book from your grandfather’s attic that’s been hiding away for, you know, 50 years, and everybody forgot about,” Masi said. “The weird or out-of-print or obscure.”
Asked how he feels about his potential new neighbor, Masi said, “I think getting people the resources to be able to read more and be able to choose what they want to read and not have it chosen for them, is something that we very much believe in as a company.
“We need more bookstores in this town.”
This story was originally published December 3, 2024 at 4:00 AM.
