Barnes & Noble books return date for Roxbury store, part of big makeover at Ledgewood mall
Three years after abandoning the troubled Ledgewood Mall, Barnes & Noble is preparing to begin a new chapter at the Roxbury shopping center.
Construction is underway for a new 14,000-square-foot location for the popular bookseller at what is now called the Shops at Ledgewood Commons. The company is targeting a Jan. 17 opening at the site along Route 10, according Barnes & Noble Senior Director of Store Planning and Design Janine Flanigan.
"We are over the moon with the continued excitement and messages," Barnes and Noble posted on a Facebook page dedicated to the Ledgewood store, which closed in 2020. The standalone building that housed the old bookstore next to the 600,000-square-foot mall was subsequently demolished.
By then, demolition had already begun on portions of the enclosed mall, including a Macy's and a Walmart, as part of an effort to recreate the property as an open-air shopping center. Walmart returned in October 2020 to occupy an anchor position with a new 170,000-square-foot supercenter and full grocery.
Barnes & Noble will bring new layout to Ledgewood
The new Barnes & Noble store will share a renovated building with a DSW shoe store and an Ulta Beauty shop in a space formerly occupied by Sports Authority. The bookstore will not include a cafe, but there is a Starbucks located close by, the Facebook page notes.
Flanigan said shoppers will appreciate the layout of the new location, which replaced "one of our oldest stores."
"We've got a brand-new design, a new way of merchandising," she said. "Our booksellers really are responsible for putting in front of their customers the books that are important to their community, both from a commercial perspective and a local perspective."
Another post announced that the store is hiring and included a link to the company website for details. "We will reach out as we need to set up interviews," the company advised.
Why the bookstore chain is bouncing back
The New York-based chain reopened a popular store in Bergen County last week and is undergoing its biggest expansion in decades. After years of losing ground to Amazon, Barnes & Noble announced in March that it would open about 30 stores this year, including in spots it had previously abandoned.
The company "took advantage of pandemic lockdowns to renovate and recalibrate," National Public Radio reported earlier this year. "Retail bankruptcies created cheaper space for new stores, and the chain relaunched right when people were buying more books than ever."
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Nearby residents commenting on the Facebook page said the Roxbury Barnes & Noble was missed, and will be welcomed back with open arms.
"This makes me so happy," Janet Farro Kast posted. "I was part of the original store 1980 crew and spent 17 years working with an amazing group of coworkers."
"Can’t wait ... my happy place," added commenter Stacy Frendak.
The fall and rise of the Ledgewood mall
The Ledgewood Mall first opened in 1972 and neighbors Roxbury Mall. Acadia Realty Trust sold the mall to AC I Ledgewood LLC & Baltoro Capital Management for $37 million in 2011.
But vacancies continued to increase at the aging facility. By 2015, only seven tenants remained inside the shopping center, while 25 spaces were unoccupied. Macy's closed its store in Ledgewood that year and the property was sold again for a "high-$20 million" price tag, according to a group of buyers who promised to "reposition" the site.
"It was actually a great location for us, but our lease was up and we had to get out," said Barnes & Noble's Flanigan. She said plans to fill a temporary vacancy on the site fell through.
The previous owners of the mall, Acadia Realty of White Plains, filed tax appeals in 2005, 2006 and 2007 that reduced the mall's property assessment from $32.3 million to $21.3 million, cutting its Roxbury tax bill from about $1.1 million to $743,370 in 2008. That tax bill rose to $859,242 in 2014, based on the same 2007 assessment.
The Shops at Ledgewood Commons is now a 517,000 square-foot retail center with more than 700 feet of frontage near the western end of Route 10. Tenants include Marshalls, Ashley Furniture and Men’s Warehouse.
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"I don't know of any other redevelopment or shopping center like this in our region," then-mayor and current Roxbury Councilman Robert DeFillippo said of the renovation in 2019. "I think it tends to get overshadowed, but for Roxbury and the surrounding communities in Morris County, this is one of the largest redevelopments."
Barnes and Noble recently reopened at a new store on Route 17 in Paramus after the company lost its lease and closed a location down the highway in Bergen County that it occupied for three decades.
The grand opening event on Black Friday last week included VIP ribbon-cutters Joseph Simmons, also known as DJ Run from Run-DMC, jewelry designer and author Justine Simmons and Ridgewood author Harlan Coben. The three authors also signed copies of their books.
William Westhoven is a local reporter for DailyRecord.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com
Twitter: @wwesthoven
This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Barnes & Noble sets reopening date in Roxbury NJ, after 3-year absence
