Barnes & Noble has opened a new bookstore in Oak Park, Illinois, adding to the bookseller’s growing presence in the Chicagoland area. The company announced that the Oak Park location is its third new store to come online in the region this year, with another new store planned to open later this summer on State Street in Downtown Chicago.
The new Oak Park bookstore is housed in the historic Marshall Field’s building, a property that has long served as a retail landmark in the community. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988, underscoring its architectural and cultural significance. Its reuse as a bookstore continues a longstanding connection between the property and book retailing.
Before the arrival of Barnes & Noble, the Marshall Field’s building served as a flagship location for Borders. That bookstore operated in the building until the Borders chain closed in 2011, leaving a notable gap in the local book retail landscape. With Barnes & Noble now occupying the space, the property returns to active use as a large-format bookstore after several years without its prior tenant.
The new Barnes & Noble offers nearly 24,000 square feet dedicated to books, gifts, games, newsstand selections and media, along with an on-site café. The store is located at 1144 Lake Street, positioning it within Oak Park’s established retail corridor. The scale of the store and its range of merchandise mark it as a significant retail anchor within the immediate area.
In announcing the opening, Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt emphasized the importance of physical environments to the company’s store strategy. He noted that the retailer already operates what he described as one of the most beautiful bookstores in the United States in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. According to Daunt, the new Oak Park store offers a comparable level of visual impact and drama, benefitting from its location in the historic Marshall Field’s building.
The Oak Park opening, along with the planned State Street store in Downtown Chicago, reflects Barnes & Noble’s current focus on expanding and refreshing its brick-and-mortar footprint in key markets. For Oak Park, the launch reactivates a well-known historic building with a use that aligns closely with the property’s legacy as a destination for book shoppers.
