Barnes & Noble is opening a bookstore on Avenue A. The chain's own store locator lists a new location called Avenue A, at 181 Avenue A between East 11th and 12th streets, with the status Opening November 2026. That puts a Barnes & Noble a block from Tompkins Square Park within the next few weeks.

A bookstore east of First Avenue

For anyone living around Tompkins Square Park, the nearest Barnes & Noble today is the Union Square store at 33 East 17th Street, which the store locator lists as the closest neighbor to the new one.

The company's page for the new location describes it the way it describes every branch: books, toys, games and music, with store events. Barnes & Noble has not yet posted an exact opening day, hours, or whether the Avenue A store will include a cafe.

Where it fits

In Manhattan and Brooklyn, the chain's locator already shows stores at Union Square, at 555 Fifth Avenue in Midtown, on the Upper East Side at 87th Street and Third Avenue, and in Brooklyn on Atlantic Avenue and in Park Slope, among others. Avenue A is the only one of them listed as opening soon, and the only one in the East Village.

Getting there

181 Avenue A is between East 11th and 12th streets. The L train stops at First Avenue and 14th Street, three blocks north and one avenue west.

Barnes & Noble lists the store as opening in November. The opening date and hours will be posted on the Avenue A page of the company's store locator.

Sources