End of an Era for Barnes & Noble in Hoboken

After selling books in the Mile Square for the last 15 years, Barnes & Noble is planning to close its store at 59 Washington Street on March 31. A company spokesman said the skyrocketing rent for the nearly 10,000 square foot building the store occupies has rendered doing business in Hoboken impractical.

In a statement, David Deason, Vice President of Real Estate for Barnes & Noble, said, "We are as disappointed as our customers to be closing our Hoboken store, but the fact is the rent became too high, which made it impossible to continue leasing the space from a business point of view."  But the building's landlord disputes that claim.

The Hoboken Barnes & Noble opened in November 1994, ironically, the same year Amazon.com, the online retailer that has emerged as the chief threat to traditional brick-and-mortar stores, was founded. But, Barnes & Noble executives blame the ever-increasing rents foisted upon the company for being the elbow that shoved it out of town. 

Washington-Hudson Associates, L.P., a real estate management company based in New City runs 59 Washington Street. Jeffrey Koenig, the owner, said he hasn't raised the rent for the space in five years.

"We would've loved to have had Barnes & Noble stay in the space," Koenig said.

Barnes & Noble signed a 15-year lease in 1994 and simply elected not to renew that lease, a decision Koenig believes could be a result of plummeting book sales or other changes in the publishing industry, not necessarily high rent.

Koenig has yet to line up a new tenant for the space, but said he enlisted a commercial real estate agent to find one.

Hobokenites who were shopping and milling around in Barnes & Noble earlier this week were astonished and disheartened by news that the bookseller is shutting its Hoboken operation permanently.

Brian Hopson, 36, a ten-year resident of Hoboken who wasn't aware that the store is closing, said he visits the Barnes & Noble a couple of times a week. "I think it's terrible," said Hopson, an actor. "There's a very peaceful atmosphere here ... I'm really sorry to hear that it's leaving." Hopson said his girlfriend is also a frequent visitor and the two purchase "a lot of books" there.

The closing of Barnes & Noble leaves Symposia as the lone bookstore in Hoboken. On its Web site, Symposia describes itself as a "nonprofit corporation organized and operated exclusively for educational and charitable purposes." The store mainly traffics an inventory of used books, which it receives via donations.

Barnes & Noble was originally founded as a book printing business in 1873 in Wheaton, Illinois, and opened its first store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan in 1917. The company launched its Web site in May, 1997.

Tracy Gavante, a former magazine publisher, said she's not only disappointed, but "devasted" by the news. Gavante, 45, has lived in Hoboken since 1992 and has fond memories of Barnes & Noble opening.

"We buy a lot of books here and we spend a lot of time here," Gavante said. She said Barnes & Noble has improved the quality of life in Hoboken. Gavante frequently brings her daughter to the store and they often purchase books there and hang out in the café along with friend Vivienne Ho, and her daughter.

Ho, 37, has lived in Hoboken for eight years and said she appreciates this particular Barnes & Noble's proximity and that traveling to it doesn't require a car ride. She also sees the bookstore as an amenity for the city, like the recently opened Clearview Cinemas.

"We finally have a movie theater in Hoboken," Ho said, "and now the book store is going."