Barnes & Noble Chelsea, RIP
Monday was the last day of business for the Barnes & Noble at Sixth Avenue and 21st Street. The store had become a Chelsea institution over the past 14 years — and did more magazine sales to the nearby fashion and new media industries than Atlantic News and Borders combined.
One of our favorite New York Times reporters, David Dunlap, just penned an excellent Barnes & Noble eulogy for the paper:
Where plate glass windows beckoned browsers as recently as last weekend, there now hang rolls of kraft paper, intended to block the view of passers-by. But this shield is not seamless, and one can glimpse slices of the interior. The décor is standard B&N issue, though it is ennobled here by colossal columns from the days in the early 20th century when this was the Adams Dry Goods emporium. Familiar as the store looks, it now seems poignantly remote, a relic from another age.
The Chelsea location is the second recent closing in the chain — Barnes & Noble’s Astor Place location recently shut down as well.
