UES Barnes & Noble Opens To 'Unprecedented' Neighborhood Welcome

UPPER EAST SIDE — "Unexpected," an "emotional lifeboat," "a refuge."

That's how readers and workers alike used to describe the much-anticipated return of bookseller Barnes & Noble to the Upper East Side at East 87th Street and Third Avenue.

Even before the doors opened, employees working to get the store ready had a hint that Wednesday's grand opening could be something else.

"The last two weeks especially," said Janine Flanigan, who does planning and design with Barnes & Noble, "I knew people were getting really excited."

"But we didn't expect this," she said.

Employees had to constantly replace the paper signs hanging outside the still under-construction store because neighbors were covering them with handwritten notes, trying to summon the to-be book mecca.

"We can't wait," and "Can you open before the 19th?" read some of them, many of which were saved by staff.

"We've had lines before, but the notes was something new," said Janine Flanigan, who does planning and design with Barnes & Noble. "They just kept piling up."

And finally, on opening day Wednesday, so did the shoppers.

By 9 a.m., a line stretched from the store up the avenue to along East 88th Street, reaching towards Lexington Avenue.

By 10 a.m., an estimated 700-800 people had walked in through the doors, according to the bookstore bouncer, who carefully made sure the store wasn't totally overrun by eager Upper East Side bookworms.

First in the long line was Julie Maury, 41. She was waiting with her dog Daisy, 9, and her friend and neighbor Michael Soza, 43.

They both live just a few blocks away and Souza arrived at 6:30 in the morning to secure a coveted first-in-line spot for his friend, who uses a wheelchair.

"The line didn't really start up until 7 a.m.," Soza said, adding that he thinks the bookstore will "add a nice little touch to what we've been missing in the neighborhood."

"Barnes & Noble is my favorite place," said Maury, "it's very peaceful —it's like a refuge. It's a very calming franchise."

A few spots down the line was Angel Zabala, 69, who said he's lived in the Upper East Side for over 50 years and left his house at 8 a.m. for the opening an hour later.

"I couldn't wait for it to open," he said, "but I didn't know the line was going to be like this."

"They promised that they would be back and we all said: 'oh, sure.'" said English teacher Bonnie Smith, 76. "And here they are and I'm thrilled. You can see — everyone is."

At 9 a.m., author Adriana Trigiani, known for her bestseller "The Shoemaker's Wife," cut the ribbon, telling the hundreds outside of the store that it was time to "read, read, read."

"A neighborhood is always better if it has a bookstore," Trigiani told Patch. "It's beautiful. It's gonna put a little more sparkle on the Upper East Side."

The new shop is much smaller — a bit more than a tenth of the size — than the sprawling two-story Upper East Side location on East 86th Street and Lexington Avenue that shuttered in 2020, but that will only make the experience that much more intimate and tailored to neighborhood needs, workers said.

On that front, the new Barnes & Noble should be able to hit the ground running.

The store's manager, Kenneth Tan, spent the last nearly 20 years at the also popular Shakespeare & Co across the street from Hunter College in Lenox Hill.

"It's going to be great for the neighborhood," he said, "my staff is very knowledgable, they're very warm, very kind. It's very exciting for them all."

The store will offer children's story time and other low-key events like book signings, but Tan said there could be more types of programming in the future as things settle down.

Readers were flocking to all sections of the brand-new stores, waiting for a signing by Trigiani, or in a 30-minute-long line to buy an armful of books.

One shopper was only 12-years-old, but he already knew this would be a game changer for him.

"Now I don't have to go to Union Square," said Ramfis, who was with his mom, Frankie.

"It's amazing to have this here and to do stuff together," she said.

Retired salesman Alan Diggs came down from the Bronx for the opening.

"So far, so good," the 67-year-old said as he casually flipped through a large photo book.

Teenager Anna, who lives up the street, was carrying an armful of several thick books as she walked towards the check-out line.

"I used to have to go across town for books," the 14-year-old said, "now it's great that I can just pop in."

Another 14-year-old, from Parkchester, Torence, said he and his mom just heard about the opening the other day and wanted to check it out.

With a film camera slung over his back, Torence said he checked out some photo books, but "I ended up getting a pasta book," he said.

Olga, an art conservator, said that online shopping will never replace bookstores.

"There is physical world of holding books in hands," said Olga, who declined to share her last name. "We know that behind every book, there is somebody sitting for how many years, hours, figuring things out. In a bookstore, you can discover and travel without having to go anywhere."

And she loves that the neighborhood has another store to "just hang around and browse books and meet people," she said, "there aren't many places like this — maybe just the thrift shops perhaps — in this neighborhood."

Assistant manager Stella Williams said she can't wait to get to know their neighbors.

"We really want to create a space that's representative of the community around us," she said.

Even on opening day, Williams said that she's already spotted the crowd of local bibliophiles who would regularly try to peek past the papered-up windows for a sneak peak of the new store.

That group, said one neighbor, "congregated in font of the doors every day like an old-time community coffee clutch," said lifelong Yorkville resident, Gina Stone.

"There's a huge emotional component to today," Stone said as she held her pooch, Phoebe Cheese. "We've been really beaten down by the Chick-Fil-A's and the Panera Breads."

"This is a lifeboat for us, emotionally."

For the booksellers, the feeling seems to be mutual.

"To return to a neighborhood where there was such an outpouring when we left," said Flanigan, "we are really, really thrilled."

She said that one of the store's first projects is getting those handwritten notes from Upper East Siders framed and hung on their walls.