Anyone driving down Rt. 59 would have noticed a startling change at the corner of 127 St. The Barnes and Noble store that anchors that section of Plainfield has closed.
It was one of the largest B&N stores in west-suburban Chicago. This is part of a continuing trend of retraction by the New York based retailer.
On the 2012 Fortune 500 List of Specialty Retailers – Other, Barnes & Noble ranked 14. This put them behind some other large brand names such as Costco, Best Buy and Staples. Overall B&N was 360 on the full list of 500.
The closest stores to Naperville and Aurora are now located in Naperville, Bolingbrook (8 miles), Bloomingdale (11 miles) and Geneva Commons (11 miles). The Naperville store is located at 47 East Chicago Ave.
According to Mitchell Klipper, chief executive of Barnes & Noble's retail group, B&N will shut a third of its stores over the next decade. In ten years the company will have around 500 stores compared to 689 today.
Spokeswoman Mary Ellen Keating said "Barnes & Noble has great real estate in prime locations and the company’s management is fully committed to the retail concept for the long term."
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