Placer.ai: Barnes & Noble visits surge past 2019 levels
Store traffic to Barnes & Noble has rebounded in a big way compared to pre-pandemic levels.
New data from Placer.ai shows visits to Barnes & Noble now sit 33.6% above 2019 levels, as of the second quarter of this year, while the wider bookstore category has seen visits increase 16.5%. After dropping in 2020, visits reached pre-pandemic levels in the fourth quarter of 2023 and have only continued to increase.
Placer.ai noted that while expansion has been a major part of Barnes & Noble’s comeback story, it is only part of its success. The chain opened 57 new stores in 2024, more than 60 in 2025, and plans at least 60 more this year. However, quarterly same-store visits have also grown consistently since at least the first quarter of 2024, generally tracking just behind overall visit growth.
The data also revealed that visitors to Barnes & Noble also tend to browse longer than visitors to other bookstores. On weekends, 49.3% stay for more than 30 minutes, compared with 47.4% elsewhere. The gap widens on weekdays, to 45.6% versus 41.9%.
“The chain bookstore was supposed to be finished. Instead, Barnes & Noble is opening stores faster than it has in years, filling the ones it already had, and holding visitors for longer than the rest of the category it is now outgrowing,” noted Ephraim Fruchter, insights content writer at Placer.ai. “With an IPO reportedly in preparation and the peak holiday season ahead, the next few months will show how much further the story runs.”
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Barnes & Noble currently operates more than 600 bookstores nationwide.
