Barnes & Noble will open a new store on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Calif., next summer, after a five-year absence. LAist reported that the bookstore chain's return is "part of a project to turn the outdoor shopping strip into an entertainment venue, with pickleball courts, tattoo parlors and more."
"I never consider us to be a mall in your traditional sense," said Andrew Thomas, CEO of Downtown Santa Monica, a commercial property management group behind the Promenade.
Although boom times for the three-block pedestrian mall "had ended in the late 2010s, when rising rents kept businesses from renewing leases," the Covid-19 pandemic essentially shut down in-person shopping, LAist wrote.
"It was very painful. We really haven't had any significant downturns at all until the last three years," said Wally Marks, who owns the building the new B&N will occupy. In June 2022, he cold-called B&N, wanting to know if the company had any interest in returning to the Promenade.
Marks "longs to see the building return to the days of book readings and community events nestled within its exposed brick walls and hardwood floors. In the early 1990s, his building was home to the indie bookstore, Midnight Special Books," LAist noted.
Calling B&N's return "serendipitous," he added: "We just really believe in the power of books and the power of magic that it brings to people."