Barnes & Noble is opening two new bookstores on today, January 28, in Strongsville, Ohio, and in Katy, Tex.
The 26,000-square-foot Strongsville store, located in the Plaza at Southpark at 16700 Royalton Rd., will launch with author Misty Wilson cutting the ribbon and signing copies of her book Falling Like Leaves (Margaret K. McElderry Books).
"It has been 15 years since the Borders closed in Strongsville and we now restore a dramatically large, full-scale bookstore to the same location," B&N said. "There is an unmatched excitement to bookstores of this ambition. Our Strongsville bookselling team are creating a fabulous bookstore and look forward to welcoming customers into their brand-new Barnes & Noble."
The new B&N store in Katy is located in Greentree Shopping Center at 435 S. Fry Rd. in a former Party City. The 22,000-square-foot bookstore, which includes a B&N Café, will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony and book signing with author ReShonda Tate, whose newest book is With Love from Harlem: A Novel of Hazel Scott (Morrow).
"We received more e-mails suggesting, in Texan terms, that we open a bookstore in Katy than for any other location in the United States," B&N said. "It has taken some time to find the right location and a store of sufficient scale, and now we have a seriously good store about to open. Our Katy bookselling team is creating a bookstore of great ambition. They look forward to welcoming the Katy community into this beautiful bookstore."