Barnes & Noble is returning to a familiar retail property in Morris County after signing a lease for nearly 14,000 square feet, brokers with The Goldstein Group announced this week.
According to a news release, the bookseller will occupy the space at Ledgewood Commons in Roxbury under a deal with Ledgewood Investors LLC. The commitment at 461 Route 10 comes roughly three years after Barnes & Noble left what was the troubled Ledgewood Mall, the brokers said, but ownership has since repositioned the property to create a new 450,000-square-foot, open-air shopping destination.
The Goldstein Group Vice President Marc Palestina and President Chuck Lanyard represented the tenant in the 13,875-square-foot deal, while Mike Testa, Shane Wierks and Bill Farkas of Jeffery Realty represented the landlord.
“Barnes & Noble will be a great addition to an already great shopping center,” Palestina said. “Barnes & Noble continues to prove that they have repositioned themselves and there is still a great demand for brick-and-mortar bookstores.”
In announcing the deal, the brokers noted that Barnes & Noble is the world’s largest retail bookseller with some 600 locations and is a leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products. Its newly designed store, part of a new format by the company, will have full-height bookshelves arranged more like an independent bookstore than its traditional big-box store, while featuring a new release shop, book rooms, bright cheerful paint colors and seating to encourage customers to sit and enjoy the space.
The Ledgewood location will share a renovated building with DSW and Ulta Beauty in a space formerly occupied by Sports Authority, with neighboring tenants including Walmart, Marshalls, Ashley Furniture, Burlington, At Home, Old Navy, 5 Below, Chipotle, Five Guys and Panda Express, the news release said. It will not have a café, but there is a nearby Starbucks.