New Oswego Barnes & Noble store draws big crowd on opening day

Hundreds of people waited in line Wednesday, June 12, for Barnes & Noble’s new store in Oswego to open its doors.

Barnes & Noble store manager John Crum was pleasantly surprised by the turnout.

“It blew our expectations out of the water,” said Crum, who estimated between 200 to 300 people were in line. “It blew us away how many folks showed up. The feedback that we have been getting on social media is that people are glad we are in their community. We’ve had great success with our other new stores that we’ve opened in the past couple of years. It’s been a pleasure getting this ready for Oswego.”

The store, located at 2590 Route 34 next to a Best Buy store in the Prairie Market retail center, opened its doors shortly after 9 a.m. following a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The store, which also features a cafe, is in a space formerly occupied by DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse.

In January, Barnes & Noble closed its longtime location in downtown Naperville to start making its move to the new location. The store had been located at 47 E. Chicago Ave. in downtown Naperville since 1998.

Oswego resident Larry Harris was among those who waited in line for the store to open.

“I love books,” Harris said. “I always have. I love holding a book and their look and smell. Everything about books I love. And one of the things that made me happy waiting in line was seeing all the kids that were also in line.”

During the grand opening, children’s author Sherri Duskey Rinker was at the store signing copies of her books. Oswego Village President Ryan Kauffman also was there and shook the hands of those walking into the store.

“Oswego has needed a book store for as long as I can remember,” he said. “It’s been necessary for decades. Barnes & Noble is a top quality book seller. It’s a combination of those two factors that are going to make Barnes & Noble massively successful here in Oswego.”

Kauffman was at the store buying books for his kids. He had already found a book for his 9-year-old son – “Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets.”

“He loves the Captain Underpants series and he loves anything that Dav Pilkey writes,” Kauffman said. “Now I have to find something for my daughter and something for myself.”

Oswego Village Administrator Dan Di Santo also was happy with the number of people who showed up for the grand opening.

“It’s pretty exciting,” he said. “The store will bring new people to Oswego.”