Two new locations of bookstore chain Barnes & Noble have opened in the Dallas area, and there are more to come.

According to a release, the stores are located in Flower Mound and Richardson, part of a wave of store openings that show the chain in the midst of a major comeback.

• Flower Mound: On November 15, a store opened in The Highlands of Flower Mound at 6101 Long Prairie Rd., adjacent to World Market, in the same center as Target and Sephora.
• Richardson: On November 29, a store opened in the Pavilion East Shopping Center at 1361 W. Campbell Rd., across from HomeGoods, near Sprouts and Home Depot.

The new locations showcase a new design seen in the most recent Barnes & Noble store openings, housing books, toys, games, and gifts.

The Flower Mound store replaces a location whose lease ended, says Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt in a statement.

“When our previous lease ended earlier this year, we committed to finding a new home here in Flower Mound,” Daunt says.

The Richardson store is a sort-of replacement for a location at Preston Royal Village which closed in 2021. Situated across from the University of Texas at Dallas, it's in a former Dress Barn, and is the first DFW store with a new layout adopted by the chain which is less focused on corporate and publisher-driven displays and more custom-fit to each location.

For Richardson, that means extra attention on young readers, says manager Stephanie Trout in a statement.

"We are so looking forward to becoming a true community bookstore; to really connect with our customers and watch our littlest readers grow," Trout says.

Daunt notes that "the Dallas area seems to have an inexhaustible desire for books, and bookstores, and we couldn’t be happier to bring another stunning new Barnes & Noble to the metroplex."

There are currently 14 stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and approximately 600 locations across all 50 U.S. states.

In August 2019, Barnes & Noble was acquired by Elliott Advisors (UK) and taken private. Elliott’s acquisition of Barnes & Noble followed its June 2018 acquisition of Waterstones, the largest bookseller in the U.K. James Daunt, Managing Director of Waterstones, was appointed CEO of Barnes & Noble. Daunt has 30 years in bookselling and founded Daunt Books which has nine locations mainly in London.

Barnes & Noble is experiencing a period of growth, the result of a strategy to hand over control of each bookstore to its manager. They're enjoying strong sales and have opened many new stores after 15-plus years of declining store numbers. In 2022, they opened more new bookstores in a single year than in the entire decade from 2009 to 2019, and expect to open up to 50 more locations, including two in the DFW area, in 2024.