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Prudential Center Barnes & Noble to close forever in June
By adamg on Sat, 04/23/2022 - 4:03pm
The Pru Barnes & Noble says a rent dispute means it's closing June 19th:
We were unable to reach an agreement with our landlord to keep this location open. We have truly enjoyed serving our customers & our community for the past 20 years!
The store points customers to Barnes & Noble outlets in, well, Hingham and Peabody, neither exactly convenient to Pru shoppers. Barnes & Noble does run bookstores Emerson College down Boylston and for BU out near Agganis Arena, though.
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Comments
bleh
Which means
1. Landlord won't renew
2. Rent is skyrocketing
3. Landlord has other plans for space
4. Any or all of the above
Not really surprising Pru mall has dumped so many original tenants over the past few years. Its becoming 'high class'. And that odd-ly shaped space is vast, but would serve better being chopped up to connect to the Huntington Ave ground level retail. (which cant seem to keep tenants, except for the CF)
Sad, this was one of my 'aimless wandering in town destinations'. And one of the few places that has a decent computer techbook section still.
Whatever
I just go to the huge Borders in DTX.
/s
Remember Trident Booksellers?
Remember Trident Booksellers? Waterstone's? Actually, truth be told, some of the best books I've seen are in the cute little free library locations.
Trident Booksellers is still open though?
Am I missing something here?
Yes, still open
n/t
Fine for some
I prefer to browse and lounge in the red-carpeted environs of Waterstones.
(also /s)
My choice
I like the Lauriat's in Lafayette Mall.
Bet you wouldn't have come up with THAT one. ;-)
So arriviste
Please support the old-school team: Avenue Victor Hugo, Buddenbooks, Rizzoli, and the Harvard Bookstore Cafe? Or even that patchouli-scented upstart with the impressive tarot card offerings — the Trident?
Victor Hugo still exists.
But they're up in New Hampshire now, near Portsmouth and Durham.
Borders is owned by Barnes &
Borders is owned by Barnes & Noble.
Small Landlords can't afford
Small Landlords can't afford it either. That's why they're selling out to the deeper pockets. All levels of society have ways to hustle.
Selling out?
Say, what’s your eBay username? Surely you practice what you preach and always sell to the lowest bidder, right?
Seriously
I sold high on Boston.
I hope
It becomes a bank! (Not really, I am feeling a bit sarcastic!)
You know . . .
we really need another bubble tea shop.
Life sciences lab
Just an FYI - the BU Barnes
Just an FYI - the BU Barnes and Noble moved up to BU’s west campus (near Agganis Arena) due to the Kenmore construction.
Thanks
Location updated.
Does Anyone Know . . .
if the new location sells mostly T-shirts and other logo stuff like the Coop does now? If so, I won't bother hiking all the way out there.
Some books
But not as many as the normal, non-university B&N.
Yeah.
And the new space is about one quarter the size of the old one.
Shame
It was the only store in the entire city (including those other college Barnes & Nobles) that carried a certain periodical I like to pick up. I would make a specific point of going there. Bookstores and print periodicals have both seen better days.
Other bookstores...
in/near Boston:
Papercuts, Jamaica Plain
Frugal Bookstore, Roxbury
The Blue Bunny, Dedham (kids' books)
Brookline Booksmith
More Than Words- Boston and
More Than Words- Boston and Waltham
Trident on Newbury Street, More Than Words in the South End
Trident is the bookstore nearest the Pru. Brattle Book Shop downtown, for used books.
Tres Gatos in JP
Smaller book section in the bookstore in the back. They carry a nicely curated selection and Phil can order you anything in a few days. We’ve had him order multiple copies of Make Way For Ducklings for friends with bébés. Shop local!
Barnes and Noble runs the
Barnes and Noble runs the Harvard Coop, too.
Annnnnd....
Trident, right nearby on Newbury Street.
Brookline Children's Bookstore Closed
Sadly, noticed Children's Book Shop in Brookline Village is closing . They opened in 1977.
-
We are sad to report that The Children’s Book Shop will close its doors on April 30, 2022. We have provided good books, great service and long-lasting memories for young readers and their families for 45 years in our welcoming Brookline Village store.
We will hold an inventory sale open to the public beginning Tuesday, April 19.
-
The Happy Journey on Charles St
Is fairly new.
https://www.instagram.com/thehappyjourneyboston/
and coming soon
Hummingbird Books at The Street in Chestnut Hill
New bookstores
Porter Square Books opened a second location in the Seaport and a bookstore opened in Assembly Row called All She Wrote.
Porter Square Books, Cambridge
and, still ticking, The Harvard Book Store (not the Coop)
Newtonville Books
Right in Newton Centre (accessible by green line)
Last really big bookstore easily accessible by the T
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love independent bookstores like Harvard Book Store, Porter Square Books, and Brookline Booksmith. But sometimes you want, or need, a bookstore with a lot of space so they can have a more comprehensive inventory. For example, my wife was hoping to browse a store with large collection of cookbooks, looking for books that would help her meet specific dietary needs.
The B&N website storefinder also lists stores in Burlington, Framingham, Walpole, and Braintree, but none in the central part of the metro area (other than the soon-to-close Pru).
For what it's worth, Barnes and Noble bookstores, and Barnes & Noble "college stores" are run by completely different divisions of the corporate headquarters. And the two different divisions have entirely different priorities and business models. The Coop (both at Harvard and MIT) is independently owned, but the company that owns it signed a longterm management contract with B&N about 20 years ago. The Harvard Coop had — I emphasize past tense — the biggest general bookstore in the Boston area; but the B&N college store management didn't know what to do with it since it wasn't like any of their other college outlets. In the most recent remodeling, just finished last year, the B&N college division got rid of most of the books at the Coop, and moved the remaining ones to the third floor, out of sight. All of the prime retail space is now occupied by insignia clothing and memorabilia. much like most of their other college "bookstores".
After that happened, I chose not to renew my Coop membership, after more than 50 years. I walked through the store once soon after it reopened, and decided never to bother going in it again.
Braintree store
Didn't that close fairly recently?
No
In fact, this smells just like what happened there.
I’d put money on this getting resolved amicably. Both sides had a stake in keeping the store open, just like what happened in Braintree.
So is this still happening?
So is this still happening?
https://patch.com/massachusetts/braintree/2-businesses-will-replace-brai...
Yes, Braintree B&N will close May 22
Reported today on the Globe website.
Other locations.
Barnes & Nobles in Braintree & Framingham are closing (https://boston.cbslocal.com/2022/01/24/braintree-barnes-noble-store-clos... & https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/story/business/2022/01/10/framingham-...). I did read that John Henry and the Harvard Bookstore have been looking at the space in the Pru (http://www.bostonhospitalityindustry.com/2021/06/barnes-and-noble-may-no...)
The renovation completely
The renovation completely ruined the coop.
I've bought dozens of books there over the last few years before covid but there's no reason to go back there for books anymore.
Not 100% accurate
College stores are run by a sister company - but in the Coops case the reconfiguration was all up to them, BNC just runs the textbook not the “trade book” and Harvard / MIT much like other colleges makes a ton on insignia merchandise, more so than a copy of Harry Potter.
The book business is on an upswing, Brookline books itch is booming and was during the pandemic, they are even expanding. A new bookstore is opening in Chestnut Hill by Shake shack .
The BU bookstore moved due to BU selling the buildings to a smaller space, there are rumors of it relocating again back to Kenmore but just rumors.
Amazon took a chunk out of. Bookstores for years because their business model is to operate at a loss to kill competition - but the customer gets a lower price and up until a few years ago, no tax.
Let us not try to tear down Amazon too much because it was our spending that allowed it to grow,. I will miss fhe BN in the Pru, I take my daughter there once a month to pick out some manga and I’ve been going to Trident since the 80s. BN will be missed though.
I had thought that
all the tchotchkes were now over in the main wing because phase 2 of the renovation was doing the annex, where they used to be, and that eventually we'd get the old two building Coop back with all the books and everything. Was that plan abandoned?
Who Knew???
I thought B&N closed down years ago.
Does this leave Trident on Newbury Street
as the only general-purpose new-book store in all of central Boston?
Athens of America, indeed.
Porter Square Books
Several people have mentioned Porter Square Books, but haven't mentioned the Seaport store. I haven't been there, but I assume it has the same inventory as Porter Sq store. Even so, its inventory is smaller then Trident.
Every shopping mall used to have a chain bookstore
Not big comprehensive bookstores like B&N or the late lamented Borders, but generic little ones called Lauriat's, or Waldenbooks, or B. Dalton, or Brentano's, or Doubleday. I'd always hang out in these while my parents went shopping elsewhere in the mall. They didn't have huge selections, cafes, or a steady parade of writers coming through to do readings and signings, but they served their purpose and are greatly missed today.
Lauriats and Waldenbooks
I remember a Lauriat’s on Boylston, maybe across from the Pru? They had a store cat. And there was a Waldenbooks downtown, in that crescent building across from the Govt Center T. Both disappeared in the late 90s/early 00s, I think.
Copley Place had a Lauriat's
and also a fancier competitor, Rizzoli, right across the corridor. When Lauriat's went out of business, it became a Brentano's for a few years. The Prudential mall had a Doubleday bookstore, later replaced by the larger Barnes & Noble.
Outside the malls, Newbury and Boylston streets both had numerous small bookstores, and for a while, there was a huge Waterstone's in the old Exeter Street Theatre building. Harvard Book Store had a cafe on Newbury Street, competing with Trident a couple blocks away.
Waldenbooks was mostly in malls, but besides the Government Center store, I also recall one in Lexington Center.
Bookstore
Also a Lauriats or B Dalton on I believe Milk St on my walks from DTX to South Station in the late 1990s
Lauiats
There was a Lauriat's at Downtown Crossing for years. It was on the Franklin Street side of where TJ Maxx is now, but back then was Woolworths.
Yes, and decent-sized malls
Yes, and decent-sized malls would even have two - a B Dalton and a Waldenbooks, for example.
Update: Closing date, sale
Sign in the store window gives closing date of June 18, not 19, current sale is 25% off “nearly everything”.
Bears visiting
Thanks for the tip.
The one exemption I saw:
Manga (but Graphic Novels are discounted-that aisle had a small crowd by noontime on Sunday).
I don't think I've been in there
since the pandemic started.
But, then, I've hardly been in the Pru Mall since they closed the food court.
I suppose I should go there to look for bargains now.
I've been in there, but
also agree about the food court, in that the landlord pushed out those restaurants for a high-end restaurant. B & N at Pru has the best magazine selection by far, and one can browse as has been said. The Framingham B & N may close next year.
After what they did to my
After what they did to my beloved food court I am not at all surprised.