Barnes & Noble bookstore will meet students’ needs

Barnes & Noble is the ultimate haven for book enthusiasts — and soon Liberty University students won’t even have to leave campus to get their dose of the trendy café atmosphere.

By fall 2009 students can browse in a new Liberty University-Barnes & Noble bookstore located on Main Campus across from the entrance to Williams Stadium, said Charles Spence, the school’s director of planning and new construction.

Groundwork on the 20,000 square-foot facility started in May. It will nearly double the size of the current bookstore in Arthur S. DeMoss Learning Center.

When classes start this fall, students will have no question about the store’s future location just north of the School of Religion.

“They’re going to see heavy construction,” said Spence.

The two-story brick building will feature a café, an outdoor patio, and a large selection of the Barnes & Noble book line with a few minor modifications, he said. The top floor will be geared more toward atmospheric shopping and relaxation, while the bottom floor will house textbook transactions, such as semester-end buy-backs.

Spence said the move is necessary to accommodate LU’s growing student population.

Pairing with Barnes & Noble is just another way LU is putting its best foot forward. After all, Spence said, the first place folks often visit on a college campus is the bookstore.

“Barnes and Noble is a really good friend of the university, so they have been very easy to work with,” he said. “We’ve enjoyed the negotiations.”