Tampa Barnes & Noble Moves to Westshore As Printed Books Make Comeback

TAMPA, FL — As printed books begin making a comeback with a 27 percent increase in sales since 2012, the 29-year-old Barnes & Noble store at 213 N Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa announced plans to relocate closer to the emerging Westshore district.

The bookseller has confirmed that it will move to Tampa Town Square, 128 S Westshore Blvd., adjacent to Petco, in the space formerly occupied by Pier 1.

The new location is expected to open in February. This will be the Barnes & Noble's second new bookstore in Florida, following its Coral Springs store in 2021.

“We have enjoyed a long and happy 29 years of bookselling from our current home, and while we are sad to be leaving, our short move down the street gives us an exciting opportunity to build a completely new bookstore for the Tampa community,” said James Daunt, CEO of Barnes & Noble. “The new bookstores that we have been opening are quite stunning and we are very pleased to have our experienced team of local booksellers curating our new space. We are very much looking forward to welcoming both old and new customers to the bookstore, and doing so without interruption to business.”

After a period of decline for bookstores, Barnes & Noble has been actively opening new stores. It currently operates 600 bookstores across the United States and expects to open more than 30 new bookstores in 2023.

Founded in New York City in 1886, Barnes & Noble bookstores were once nearly as plentiful as Starbucks coffee shops, many of which were co-located inside Barnes & Noble stores.

However, with the advent of online newspapers and magazines, digital and eBooks, American bookstores experienced a series of mergers and bankruptcies in the 1990s. The final death knell was the liquidation of Barnes & Nobles' largest competitor, B. Dalton Bookseller.

Barnes & Noble fought back, however, diversifying with the introduction of its Nook eReaders and tablets, the rollout of its B&N Nook App that combines audiobooks and eBooks, an expansion of its publishing and self-publishing services and a renewed concentration on its college textbook offerings.

Now, Daunt said, the bookstore is amping up for a comeback including the revival of interest in "real" books.

The reason for bringing back printed books isn't simply nostalgia. It's based on science, say publishers.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development conducted an international study in 2018 that investigated the differences in test scores between students who primarily read print vs digital books, and the results showed drastically improved reading comprehension among students who read printed books.

The difference was especially significant among beginning readers who were found to be more engaged when reading a picture book they could hold, study the illustrations and flip the pages back and forth, thereby holding their interest longer.

The Best Schools put together a list of 50 reasons why hardback and paperback books are preferable to reading eBooks. Among the disadvantages of eBooks, according to The Best Schools, is the fact that eBooks are dependent on WifFi, batteries or electricity, which aren't always reliable; printed books allow readers to gauge their progress; printed books can be bookmarked, underlined and filled with notes in the margins for study purposes; links, "helps" and other distractions in eBooks make it harder to focus; and eBooks can't be signed by authors, displayed on a shelf or stacked on a coffee table.

Additionally, increased screen time can lead to Computer Vision Syndrome, according to the American Optometric Association, which can include eyestrain, blurred vision, dry eyes, and even neck and shoulder pain.