As technology evolves, many forms of media are becoming increasingly digitized, such as shopping media, music, and books. Despite this, Barnes & Noble, the largest bookstore chain in the United States, opened 124 stores in the past two years and plans to open 60 more in 2026, according to PBS. 

Shannon DeVito, Head of Books at Barnes & Noble, credits a large part of the company’s new success to BookTok—saying in a CNN interview that she believes “a lot of stores took advantage of the heyday of BookTok and created tables and specific displays of varying sizes because they had that flexibility, which is another beautiful thing about the stores really determining their own destiny.”

BookTok, a community of readers who makecontent on TikTok, has had a surge in popularity since the pandemic. While the content that the community circulates varies heavily, it has a reputation of promoting “trending” books, often romances and romantasies (a mix of fantasy and romance).

“BookTok does promote buying a lot of books,” Penelope Sasik, ‘27, says. “I feel like […] a big part of the culture is having giant bookshelves that [are] color-coded and pretty.” This idea of owning physical copies of books has helped fuel Barnes & Noble’s success and has made them a core piece in BookTok. 

Consequently, Barnes & Noble has responded to this trend tenfold, stocking trending books with aesthetically pleasing covers. It’s hard to walk into a Barnes & Noble and not notice the comically large #BookTok table.

This strategy has had considerable success for them and it’s likely what has launched the building of new locations across the country. DeVito says “[Barnes and Noble’s] future outlook is really positive, which is not something I could have said a few years ago.”

“It’s smart for them to keep using BookTok because it’s what people want to buy,” says Sasik, “but I think that they should also have other stuff in stocks […] because not everyone is on BookTok and not everyone wants a BookTok book.” While BookTok is responsible for a large part of Barnes & Noble’s recent success, the bookstore is still known as a hub for all readers, not just those on BookTok. Hopefully, our takeaway from Barnes & Noble’s expansion can encourage us all to read just a little bit more.