A Barnes & Noble bookstore is poised to open a location in North Kalispell later this month.

The bookseller has moved into the building that formerly housed the Pier 1 home decor store in the Mountain View Plaza. Pier 1 closed in 2019 and since then the location has hosted popup retail shops like Spirit Halloween.

Janine Flanigan, senior director of new stores planning and design for Barnes & Noble, confirmed in an email to the Inter Lake that the new bookstore has an opening date of Jan. 31. The store will be 10,000 square feet in size. 

“The shop itself consists of book rooms, with each room designed specifically for a particular subject or genre,” Flanigan said. “The flow of the rooms encourages browsing and is intended to take you on a seamless journey throughout the store with the room locations and adjacencies transitioning through a series of categories relating to each other.”

“Additionally, the store curates their subject selection based on their customer interest and the store will carry a selection of gifting items as well as a curated selection of toys, games, puzzles, vinyl and magazines,” Flanigan said. 

An illuminated Barnes & Noble sign was installed on the Kalispell storefront this week. 

Barnes & Noble is the nation’s largest national bookstore chain. It has locations in more than 600 communities in all 50 states, according to the company’s website. 

Montana locations already include Missoula, Bozeman, Great Falls and Billings.

The bookseller has enjoyed strong sales in existing stores and has been opening many new stores after over 15 years of declining store numbers, according to the company’s website. The bookseller opened over 30 new bookstores in 2023 and plans to open more than 50 this year. 

Features Editor Heidi Desch may be reached at 758-4421 or [email protected].