Another Barnes & Noble branch is disappearing in Baltimore, after Johns Hopkins University decided to replace the national retailer as manager of its campus store in Charles Village.
Hopkins disclosed last week that Follett Higher Education Group of Westchester, Illinois, has been selected to replace Barnes & Noble as operator of the store at 3330 St. Paul St., starting this month.
The store is located on the first floor of a 10-story apartment building at a prominent Charles Village intersection. Barnes & Noble has been its operator since 2006, when the store was relocated from the basement of Gilman Hall on the Homewood campus.
The store is in a transition period and has a clearance sale underway, with books advertised at 75 percent off and most apparel advertised at 50 percent off. According to employees, the store will close temporarily after Wednesday for the changeover. The last day for Barnes & Noble employees to work is June 11. Some display tables and racks are already empty as the new operator takes over. Two Barnes & Noble signs were still above the main entrance on Monday.
The Greater Baltimore area once had several large Barnes & Noble branches, including a multi-level store inside the Pier 4 Power Plant in the Inner Harbor and a multi-level store in the former Hutzler’s department store building in Towson. The Inner Harbor store closed in 2020 and the Towson branch closed in 2017.
Barnes & Noble still has contracts to manage campus stores for the University of Baltimore; Morgan State University; Loyola University Maryland; and the Community College of Baltimore County campuses in Dundalk, Essex and Catonsville, among others.
New to Baltimore
Barnes & Noble’s campus stores are operated by a separate corporate division as the stores located away from a college or university campus, but they’re still open to the general public. Because it’s just off Hopkins’ Homewood campus, the Charles Village branch was always intended to serve both the campus population and the surrounding community.
Follett, a national retailer with extensive experience managing campus stores, will run the Charles Village store and support the distribution of JHU course materials. This is its first location in Baltimore. According to The Hub, the university’s news source, Follett was selected following a comprehensive review process that included input from university leaders as well as more than 2,000 students and more than 500 faculty members.
Follett operates more than 1,000 on- and off-campus retail locations and e-commerce websites, including brick-and-mortar branches at Vanderbilt, Stanford, New York and George Washington universities.
In addition to books, its Baltimore store will offer a wide selection of apparel and other items. According to Matt Moss, assistant vice provost for Hopkins Dining and auxiliary services, it is committed to making local procurement, local merchandise and the sale of sustainable products part of its operation.
“Throughout the selection process, Follett demonstrated a profound understanding of higher education and the bookstore industry while balancing innovation and enhancing service to university faculty, students and community members,” The Hub quoted Moss as saying.
Expanded offerings
According to The Hub, the St. Paul Street store is expected to expand its merchandise and apparel offerings under Follett’s management while retaining programs and elements “that have made it successful and popular with both the JHU and broader communities over the years, including book signings by Johns Hopkins-affiliated and local authors, art exhibitions, live music events and family-friendly gatherings.”
As part of the change, the JHU Tech Store, currently in Levering Hall on the Homewood campus, will move to the St. Paul Street location. A large-scale store renovation is anticipated in the summer of 2026.
Other Barnes & Noble stores in Maryland include branches in White Marsh; Pikesville; Columbia; Ellicott City; Annapolis; Westminster; Bowie; and Rockville.
