Barnes & Noble to open new store in Commack this summer

National bookstore chain Barnes & Noble is expanding further into Long Island with plans to open a new store this summer in Commack. 

The bookseller said it would open its 10th store on Long Island, at 58 Veterans Memorial Hwy., in August, said Janine Flanigan, the company’s vice president of store design. 

The bookseller picked the building on the busy Veterans Highway stretch because of its size and high foot traffic, Flanigan said. 

Barnes & Noble signed a lease in November for the 9,885-square-foot space, she said.

Nesconset-based Everything Christmas leased space at the building for the holiday season in November, said Howie Frank, the co-owner of the franchise with his wife, Pam Frank. Prior to that, the space was leased to Party City, Flanigan said.

“We look to put bookstores in places where we think that they’re in need in communities,” Flanigan said. “Party City was vacant. It was the right size for a Barnes & Noble. So we were able to make it happen.”

Among Barnes & Noble's nine Long Island locations are ones in South Huntington and in Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove. The private company has expanded nationally, opening 58 stores last year, Flanigan said, as Long Island saw a crop of new independent book stores and mobile bookstores open in 2025, Newsday reported.

Party City announced it would shutter in 2024 after filing for bankruptcy in 2023 and 2024. 

Flanigan said Barnes & Noble plans to renovate the space and add its own fixtures. The retailer will apply for permits from the Town of Smithtown this month for the work, she said.

A representative for Kimco Realty, which according to its website owns the building and the surrounding properties at Veterans Memorial Plaza, confirmed that the company and the bookseller signed a lease for the space. 

Growth on the Island and nationally

The Commack location is part of Barnes & Noble’s national expansion, which comes after the company saw its store numbers decline, prior to its 2019 sale to the hedge fund Elliott Advisors.

Barnes & Noble got its start in 1873 and grew to become the second-largest bookseller in America by 1987 after it acquired B. Dalton Bookseller and that company's 797 stores, according to Barnes & Noble’s website.

The bookseller faced challenges in the early aughts and 2010s, including competition from e-commerce behemoth Amazon, according to the company's 2017 annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission. By the end of the 2018 fiscal year, Barnes & Noble reported heavy losses and Elliott Advisors purchased the company and took it private, Newsday reported.

But in the years since, Barnes & Noble has expanded. It has 708 bookstores nationwide, and plans to open another 60 in the United States this year, Flanigan said.

“We’re always looking for locations in need of a bookstore,” she said.

Barnes & Noble is also reportedly considering becoming a publicly traded company once again through an IPO this year, the Financial Times reported.

Flanigan declined to comment on the reports of preparations for an IPO. But she said Barnes & Noble is looking to further expand on Long Island. The company’s search was in its early stages, and Flanigan did not provide additional details.