Barnes & Noble Opening Digital Experience Bookstore

Posted on February 24, 2016

Internetretailer.com reports that Barnes & Noble is following Amazon.com's lead and is opening a super modern digitally enhanced bookstore this year. Barnes & Noble's CEO Ron Boire announced the new store at the Etail West conference in Palm Springs, California.

Boire said at the conference, "One of the challenges of that store is going to be the digital experience. I don't think until you’re fully connected -- mobile, desktop and store -- that you’re going to be providing the full experience. That's our goal."

Boire is playing things close to the vest: he said he will not discuss any specifics of the exact location or when it will open. He did confirm it will happen in 2016 and that it "will be different than the traditional Barnes & Noble store."

Amazon.com opened its first bricks and mortar bookstore in November, 2015. The bookstore is in Seattle and carries, books, ebooks, the Kindle, tablets, the Amazon Echo, Amazon Fire. There are also rumors that Amazon plans to open hundreds more physical bookstores.