UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Looks like the Upper East Side is going to get a bit more book smart this July.
Barnes & Noble announced last fall that, after an over-two-year absence from the Upper East Side, they would be returning the gift of the written word to the book worms of Yorkville.
Quickly, the future Barnes & Noble— at 1556 Third Ave., on the corner of East 87th Street — turned into the most anticipated retail opening in the neighborhood since the Trader Joe's under the Queensboro Bridge.
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And this morning, the book giant announced that their doors will finally open on July 12 this summer.
The 8,000-square-foot shop, a former Duane Reade, will be a significant downsize from its previous, 55,000-square-foot, two-level store on East 86th Street, but the shop's bookish CEO was effusive that even a small store is great news for bibliophiles.
Find out what's happening in Upper East Sidefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
"It is very good news to bring our bookstore back to the Upper East Side," Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt said in a statement in November. "It was very sad to close in the depths of the pandemic and especially pleasing now to reopen with one that is so dramatically more attractive."
Patch broke the news in June 2020 about the demise of the old Barnes & Noble, which had opened in 2009 between Third and Lexington avenues. The company said that location was "too large, and too expensive" — but vowed that it would return to the neighborhood in a new spot.
Back in March, Upper East Site first reported that the store's opening would be delayed past their originally announced spring date.
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