A national book retailer is opening its first Dubuque location next week at Asbury Plaza.
Barnes & Noble will host a grand opening celebration at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 1, at its new store located at 2531 Northwest Arterial. The store occupies the space previously filled by Pier 1 Imports between Famous Footwear and Five Below.
“Dubuque is a market that we’ve been wanting to bring a Barnes & Noble to for some time now, as the closest store for our readers is 70 miles away in Cedar Rapids (Iowa),” Simon Vodopianoff, the company’s senior manager of store planning, told the Telegraph Herald via email. “The moment the right space became available, we jumped on it.”
Barnes & Noble is the world’s largest retail bookseller but also sells digital media, educational products, newspapers and magazines, among other items. The Dubuque store will include those offerings, as well as toys, games and various gifts.
The Asbury Plaza store will be the eighth Barnes & Noble location in Iowa. Already, there are roughly 600 U.S. Barnes & Noble locations, and an additional 50 stores — including the Dubuque location — are expected to open this year.
“It’s always exciting to bring Barnes & Noble to communities we have yet to serve,” Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt said in a news release. “We couldn’t be more pleased with the warm welcome we’ve received from readers in Dubuque and look forward to showing them this beautiful new Barnes & Noble.”
There will not be a cafe at the store, which the company previously attributed to the store’s size and proximity to other coffee shops.
Joe Bell, director of corporate communications for Cafaro Co., which owns a majority of storefronts in Asbury Plaza, said conversations between Cafaro and Barnes & Noble went on for “over a year” before the bookseller selected the Dubuque site. The diversity of retailers in Asbury Plaza and the resulting foot traffic were major selling points, Bell said.
He said the community’s excitement has been palpable since plans for the store were announced, and Cafaro is excited to add a new offering to the plaza’s growing list.
Barnes & Noble comes to Asbury Plaza on the heels of the new Sierra store that opened there last year. Rally House will open a location at the plaza this summer as well as another location at Kennedy Mall.
“You have a really great selection of retailers at Asbury Plaza, which makes it a great location for foot traffic and drawing people in,” Bell said. “The addition of Barnes & Noble can only increase that traffic, and we’re looking forward to bringing that in.”
While Barnes & Noble is a national chain, Vodopianoff said there will still be a focus on local authors at the Dubuque store. Recommendations and displays also are curated by local booksellers employed at the store.
Roughly 15 people will work at the new store, which will be open seven days a week.
Already, bestselling area author Heather Gudenkauf is slated to appear at the grand opening celebration on Wednesday. Gudenkauf will participate in the ribbon cutting ceremony before signing copies of her new book, “Everyone Is Watching.”
“The (store’s) layout is curated and filled with a hand-picked assortment from the store team tailored to the Dubuque community,” Vodopianoff said. “(In addition to Gudenkauf), we are continuing to fill the rest of the month’s calendar and beyond with additional author discussions, singings and storytimes.”
Barnes & Noble will be open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. More information about the store can be found at @bndubuqueia on Facebook and Instagram or at barnesandnoble.com.