Books keep getting hotter and now there’s a new place to find them: Barnes & Noble, the thriving bookstore chain, is opening a new location in Rockwall, at 1009 E. I-30, next to Dick’s Sporting Goods, in the space previously occupied by Staples.

According to a release, the bookstore will open on Wednesday, August 27.

This location will have it all: more than 20,000 square feet of books, toys, games, magazines, paper, gift items, and a B&N Café.

Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt says in a statement that they are “very pleased to open this beautiful new Barnes & Noble” in Rockwall.

“The enthusiastic response from the community has been encouraging, and our Rockwall booksellers have been hard at work preparing a bookstore curated with their new customers in mind,” Daunt says.

The design of the Rockwall store showcases the ambition of Barnes & Noble to create exceptional local bookstores that marry the best traditions of independent bookselling with the resources of the historic chain.

Store manager Brianna Jenkins, who’s been with Barnes & Noble for 10 years, says she is looking forward to “creating a welcoming space where readers of all ages can connect, discover great books, and build lasting memories together as a community!”

The store will open at 10 am with local author Lana Ferguson cutting the ribbon and signing copies of her books, including her latest release, Overruled.

Barnes & Noble has more than 660 bookstores across the U.S., as well as its online bookstore at BN.com, the Nook Digital business which offers e-books and an audio book subscriptions service, the SparkNotes educational service, plus stationery and gift retailer Paper Source.

The company is enjoying a period of tremendous growth, thanks to a successful strategy of handing control of each bookstore to its local booksellers. They’re experiencing strong sales at existing stores and have opened many new stores after more than 15 years of declining store numbers. In 2024, Barnes & Noble opened more new bookstores in a single year than it had in the whole decade from 2009 to 2019. The bookseller expects to open over 60 new bookstores in 2025.

That includes DFW, where they opened three locations in the area in 2024: a store in Allen, as well as stores in Flower Mound and Richardson.

Rockwall is one of five new Barnes & Noble bookstores set to open in August, alongside stores in Kansas, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Tennessee.