COMING ATTRACTIONS
Barnes & Noble stages comeback with new San Antonio store
Barnes & Noble is making a major comeback.
Don’t count out the big box stores just yet. Barnes & Noble is the newest retail giant bringing ‘90s style browsing back to San Antonio, this time with a new 20,419 square foot bookstore at 11745 I-10 W #750 set to open mid-2026 in the Huebner Oaks shopping center.
San Antonians may be surprised to see Barnes & Noble expanding after the 2010s “retail apocalypse” spurred by the domination of e-tailers like Amazon, which forced the closure of once ubiquitous chains nationwide. But since being acquired by hedge fund Elliott Advisors in 2019, the company has seen a renaissance, opening 60 stores in 2025 alone. The company attributes its growth to "the strategy to hand control of each bookstore to its local booksellers."
That doesn't mean that Barnes & Noble has gone indie, but the stores now have localized inventory and displays. That allows store managers to quickly respond to social media trends like #BookTok and curate merchandise that aligns with customer preferences.
The upswing can also be attributed to a new cultural interest in “third spaces,” gathering spots that are neither home nor work. The new Barnes & Noble stores go beyond books to offer toys, games, magazines, and gifts. They also often feature B&N Cafés so shoppers can flip through pages while they sip.
This will be Barnes and Noble's sixth current store in the San Antonio area, not counting the smaller version that acts as the college bookstore for St. Mary’s University. It will replace another late-decade icon, Bed, Bath & Beyond, which closed its Huebner Oaks outlet when the company went belly up in 2023.
Construction on the new bookstore is expected to be completed by late June 2026, according to Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation project details. A request for more detailed timeline information was not returned immediately.
Barnes & Noble joins a growing number of national retailers that are seeing renewed growth, largely fueled by Zoomer nostalgia. Bath & Body Works is among the brands seeing a resurgence as shoppers increasingly seek a more hands-on in-store experience.
