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Last updated on Friday, November 30, 2018
(BLOOMINGTON) - Bloomington’s only Barnes and Noble will close its doors in February after selling books to the community for more than two decades.
Alex Ortolani, Barnes and Noble's director of corporate communications, declined to answer questions posed to them by the Herald Times about why the store was closing or what would happen to employees. Instead, Ortolani emailed The Herald-Times a statement from Barnes and Noble's vice president of real estate, Jim Lampassi.
Barnes and Noble currently operates around 630 stores in all 50 states. The Bloomington store at 2813 E. Third St. opened in 1995.
"It has been our pleasure serving this community over the years," Lampassi was quoted as saying.
Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported Barnes and Noble had accepted an offer from U.K.-based book retailer WH Smith to buy the business. The sale fell apart as WH Smith conducted a due diligence review of the chain. News of that deal's death tempered a recent streak of good news for the bookstore.
Forbes reported the company's second-quarter earnings were only slightly down amid a 2-year slump, and the company was looking to open ten new stores in 2019.
Borders, another corporate bookstore, closed its location less than a mile away at 2634 E. Third St. in January 2011.
Information Herald Times, https://www.hoosiertimes.com
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