Barnes & Noble just celebrated its first major milestone as it continues to make a huge comeback from near bankruptcy.  The iconic bookstore chain suffered devastating losses in the 2010s, thanks to its main competitor, Amazon. By 2018, it had shuttered around 400 locations, and analysts believed it would soon go out of business. But a true Hail Mary came in 2019 when Elliott Management acquired the company for $683 million. Now Barnes & Noble is now thriving and plans to open 60 locations this year, which is an addition to the dozens opened in 2025. To mark the growth, the company celebrated the ribbon-cutting at its new flagship location in downtown Seattle on May 6th. Barnes & Noble is Opening 60 New Locations in 2026 The location is now inside the 17,500 sqft former North Face location, which shut down in 2024. The ribbon-cutting was extra special because the former Seattle Barnes & Noble location had closed its doors in 2020. “Barnes & Noble’s return to downtown Seattle is enormous,” said Downtown Seattle Association president and CEO Jon Scholes, per KCPQ. “When a national retailer returns to downtown it’s an indicator of confidence in our center city and the strength of our retail trade area.” “There is energy in downtown with a record residential population, visitor numbers that are the strongest we’ve seen in six years and more public space amenities coming online that increase our vibrancy. It’s a great time to open shop in downtown Seattle,” he added. According to USA TODAY, Barnes & Noble is opening stores in Ohio, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Colorado, Washington state, California, Virginia, Georgia, and Washington D.C. This story’s featured image is by Catherine Robotis/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.