Barnes & Noble on the Third Street Promenade appears poised to close its doors early next year after more than two decades at the location.
Barnes & Noble did not respond to multiple requests for comment by press time, including requests for clarification on exactly when the closure will happen, but sources have confirmed that the bookseller has opted not to renew its lease, which is up at the end of January, and at a recent Architectural Review Board (ARB) meeting, ARB members reviewed plans by the property owner to subdivide the ground floor of the three-story building in which Barnes & Noble currently operates into four individual tenant spaces and to change the signage.
“I am sorry to see Santa Monica lose Barnes & Noble,” said Councilmember Gleam Davis Wednesday.
“Unfortunately, Barnes & Noble’s decision to leave is a private matter over which the City has no control. I hope to find an opportunity to bring a full-service bookstore to Santa Monica sometime soon,” she said.
Kathleen Rawson, CEO of Downtown Santa Monica, Inc., the nonprofit that manages the bustling downtown district, noted that it was unfortunate that the store was closing, but not surprising, especially given recent trends in retail and competition from online giants like Amazon.
“While we are sad to lose a well-established brand like Barnes & Noble, especially one that has been a great community partner over the years by partnering with Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. and hosting back-to-school events, book signings and other free events for residents and visitors to Downtown, the company’s decision to close their Downtown location comes as no surprise given the closures over the past few years of other bookstore brands and Barnes & Noble locations, including those in very desirable locations like Union Station in Washington, D.C.,” Rawson said.
“The fact that Barnes & Noble has remained in Downtown for so long while other locations have shuttered is a testament to the popularity of the Third Street Promenade,” she said.
The trend of competition from online retails and changing consumer habits, Rawson noted, is not unique to book stores.
“We’ve seen this recently in Downtown and have made retail retention and recruitment a top priority, creating the Promenade Tenancy Committee of the Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. Board of Directors,” she said.
“We are excited by the opportunity to reach out to new, exciting concepts that are embracing the changes brought by technology and evolving consumer habits. We will continue to engage with business and property owners and the City of Santa Monica to determine what is the best mix of retail and other uses for Downtown Santa Monica,” Rawson said.
Barnes & Noble is the last remaining bookstore directly on the Third Street Promenade, though one used bookstore and several specialty bookstores, like HiDeHo Comics, still operate in downtown. And Angel City Books, Santa Monica’s oldest operating used book store, is still doing business on Pier Street just off of Main Street near the Venice border. Borders Books and Music closed several years ago. The building was replaced with the Apple Store in 2012. Before that, Midnight Special, a quirky, leftist used bookstore shuttered in 2003 after about 20 years on Third Street in Santa Monica.
Bucking the trend, however, was recently-opened used bookstore, BookMonster, on Santa Monica Boulevard between Second and Third streets.
As for what will replace the Barnes & Noble, that remains unclear. A petition to save the bookstore was recently posted on the social media site Nextdoor, but one commenter questioned the effectiveness of a petition.
“It would help if more people bought stuff from B&N promenade store instead of Amazon online. Lobbying is not going to be effective,” the commenter wrote.
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I did have the opportunity to talk with the head of real estate nationally for Barnes and Noble. They very much would like to stay in this market and are actively looking for another site in or around Santa Monica, including the Downtown. That said, the economics of brick and mortar book sales are challenging as noted in the article. Longtime B & N customers (of which I’m a discount card carrying member) will note that over time, square footage devoted strictly to books has shrunk as other items have expanded to pay the rent. I offered any assistance the City can provide to assist B & N in finding a new location.
They should find a new location. As stated above the issue is with people’s consuming and reading habits. These habits have gone in an unfortunate direction, but I believe there will be a cultural pendulum swing in the near future and these type of physical gathering places around literature will regain value in our culture and produce a demand for them to be present.
If a Barnes & Noble cannot survive on the Third Street Promenade then the entire bookstore business should be shut down by the company. There’s no point. Furthermore, recent reports on the rebounding independent bookstore business seem to me to be somewhat wishful. Perhaps very small book store operations are finding niche markets again, but this definitely does not indicate a healthy book selling environment. Are people really choosing ebooks and Amazon books over bookstore purchases? Really? When was the last time you saw someone reading a book in public? When was the last Kindle you saw in public? Are all these book buyers doing their reading exclusively at home and out of view? Or are they skipping books entirely and just reading text messages about where their spouses are getting the car washed?
I think the problem is with people, not the book industry. No one is reading. That’s why we get Trump. If you read, you don’t vote for Trump. It’s that simple.
Property owners keep raising the rents. Why? Because they can. As for people not reading books… I read actual books, in public, all the time. But, then again, I’m old. The dumbing down of America has nothing to do with our current president. It goes back years and years. Even before the Kindles and Nooks. I have watched it dwindle my whole life. Movies, tv, computers in the home, video games, smart phones, parents too busy, too tired to read to children bring up children who don’t read. Our language has gone in the crapper when you hear “I seen him walking,” or “She don’t got no where to go.” Sad to see B&N leaving just so the property owner can parcel it out and make more money. You can’t take it with you sir or madam but wouldn’t you prefer to have educated people in your community running things rather than people who are watching reality tv and MMA fighting? Can’t fix stupid if everyone around is as dumb as a box of rocks as well.
After chatting with the B&N manager last night, I learned that the landlord asked for a significant increase in rent in an area where commercial retail prices have been stagnant. The landlord wants to convert its function into something else but hasn’t yet gotten approval (been denied numerous times) from the city.
My bet is that this will remain vacant for years unless a place like Eataly comes in. It’s extremely disappointing.
I am surprised the Peoples Republic Of Santa Monica just didn’t confiscate the property to keep Barnes And Noble there. The law of supply and demand is at work here. The landlord will soon find out if he made a wise decision, but that’s his right to make for good or bad.
the city of santa monica has let it’s residents, and tourist, down. they all should be a shame of themselves. they didn’t act because it didn’t affect their pocket. so disappointing and embarrassing that this store was allowed to shut down. the city council’s priorities are askew. good luck to the rest of the promenade….
B&N is failing and closing stores because the
company is run by prime time IDIOTS, clueless buffoons, inapt clowns. We should never trust these [turds] to run a taco stand, much less a
large corporation. Mediocrity should fail
and not rewarded.