Barnes & Noble to move Tampa store, cut footprint in half
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Dec 28, 2022

Barnes & Noble plans to relocate its Tampa store to the Westshore business district.

The bookstore has hung signage on the former Pier1 Imports storefront in Town Square Shopping Center, which sits at Westshore and Kennedy boulevards. It plans to open in the space in February, the company told the Tampa Bay Business Journal.

Barnes & Noble will be cutting its footprint roughly in half with the move. Its former store at 213 N Dale Mabry Hwy., built in 1994, is just under 20,000 square feet. The former Pier1 Imports space in Westshore is 10,244 square feet, according to marketing materials from Jacksonville-based Regency Centers. Regency owns and leases Town Square, which counts Petco, Starbucks and Panera Bread among its tenants.

RMC Property Group, which owns the Barnes & Noble store, lists its space as “coming soon” on its website. A representative from RMC was not immediately available Wednesday.

Discount grocer Aldi has been rumored for months to be targeting the real estate Barnes & Noble is vacating. It’s unknown whether the grocer would redevelop the space or move into the existing store; it’s slightly larger than a traditional Aldi.

Aldi usually looks for spaces around 17,000 square feet with 85 parking spaces, according to the grocer’s website. But the grocer has wanted to be in or near South Tampa for years, and it may be willing to make concessions for a prime spot in the area.