Barnes & Noble opened its second Fresno location at Fashion Fair mall in November 2024. Photo via Barnes & Noble Facebook

A major brick-and-mortar book retailer announced plans to open 60 additional stores in 2026  – including one in Clovis.

Barnes & Noble, one of the nation’s largest book sellers, is planning to open a new location in Clovis between May and June of 2026. 

The new book store will open in the building formerly occupied by JOANN Fabrics and Crafts at 1065 Herndon Ave. The crafts retailer closed all of its stores in the spring of 2025 after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January of that same year.

Located in the Clovis Crossing Shopping Center, the newly remodeled 18,000-square-foot retail space will contain all the things Barnes & Noble customers have come to love in its stores, said a representative of the company.

Readers can expect to find books, stationery and gifts, toys and games, vinyl records and more.

Clovis’s incoming Barnes & Noble location will also contain a B&N Café — a coffee shop and lounge that serves Starbucks coffee and quick-bites, like breakfast sandwiches and pastries.

The big-box book seller — which closed nearly 100 stores within the last 15 years — is now experiencing a period of growth. Its strategies include opening new locations and buying indie bookstores in decline and allowing them to operate nearly unchanged.

It even recently reopened one of its flagship stores, which closed in 2012.

Barnes & Noble currently has two book stores in Fresno, one at the Villaggio shopping center on North Blackstone Avenue and the other at Fashion Fair Mall. The company’s Fashion Fair location hosted its grand opening in November of 2024. 

The company also recently launched a store at The Sequoia Mall in Visalia — which remains open while the 36-year-old shopping center receives upgrades and welcomes new tenants.

The Clovis Crossing Shopping Center is also home to Walmart, Nordstroms Rack, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Homegoods, among others. 

Clovis-Herndon Center LLC currently owns the Clovis property that Barnes & Noble is moving into. Owner David Paynter also redeveloped Sequoia Mall.