Barnes & Noble to open new stores in Gainesville, Manassas

PRINCE WILLIAM TIMES – Many Manassas residents were disappointed late last year when Barnes & Noble announced it was permanently closing its store in the Westgate Shopping Center after 25 years in business. Now, the bookseller’s next chapter includes new locations in Manassas and Gainesville. 

By the end of this year, Barnes & Noble will have two new stores — one in Bull Run Plaza and one in Gainesville at the Shops at Stonewall, according to officials with the store and with the Gainesville shopping center. 

The bookseller will open its first new store at Bull Run Plaza, located at 10776 Sudley Manor Drive, in October. The store will occupy the space formerly filled by Dollar Tree, near GNC and Dick’s Sporting Goods, Barnes & Noble Manassas wrote on Facebook. 

“It has truly been our honor and privilege to be your bookseller in Manassas for the last 25 years,” the store’s post said. “While we’re saddened to vacate our current location, we are so excited to continue to serve this community from our beautiful new bookstore.” 

The Gainesville store will open next winter at 8135 Stonewall Shops Square in the space formerly occupied by Bed Bath & Beyond, which closed about a year ago. The new bookstore is planned to occupy 17,610 square feet or about half of the former footprint of the now vacant storefront.  

Peterson Companies confirmed the deal in an email to the Prince William Times this week.  

“Barnes & Noble will join the lineup at Shops at Stonewall, offering all the best books, toys, games and gifts that their customers have come to expect from the nation’s premier bookseller,” said Joanna Rothermal, vice president of marketing at Peterson Companies. 

Rothermal said she can’t say what store will occupy the space next to Barnes & Noble but said her team is “working with an exciting prospect to take the other half of the space although the lease has not been executed yet.” 

Gone will be the store’s traditional aesthetic of dark wood shelves and hunter green carpet. Both the new Gainesville and Manassas stores are expected to feature Barnes & Noble’s new design, which means lighter sandy walls, polished floors, modular fixtures that can be moved for flexibility and free-standing store displays. 

In the meantime, bibliophiles can still visit Barnes & Noble at the chain’s Fairfax location at 12193 Fair Lakes Promenade Drive and Woodbridge location at 15000 Potomac Town Place.  

Read the full article on Prince William Times’ website HERE.