Big news for book lovers — Barnes & Noble is buying the Joseph-Beth Booksellers locations at Lexington Green and Cincinnati Rookwood.

The good news is that no large-scale changes are planned. We spoke with Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt and he confirmed that the stores will keep their names, their Bronte Bistros, and that all employees will transfer over.

"We take on indie bookstores when owners are looking for a long-term solution," Daunt said. "They keep the name and identity, but we can provide improved technology and access to our distribution network. We let it run itself properly. We want the best store for the community."

He noted that if all goes to plan, other than articles like this, no one will notice the ownership change — though you may get your books faster and more efficiently. Any other shifts will be driven by the booksellers.

This isn't the first time Barnes & Noble has acquired a legendary independent bookstore. It bought Denver's Tattered Cover in 2024 and the Bay Area's Books Inc. in 2025. Those stores have continued to operate as autonomous subsidiaries.

Long-time staffers told LEXtoday they were optimistic this change would be good for them.

What about the nearby Barnes & Noble?

The Barnes & Noble at Fayette Mall recently moved to a new, larger space. Given its proximity to Joseph-Beth, we asked if this acquisition will have any impact on its future.

Daunt said it's not unusual to have former indie bookstores surrounded by the parent company's stores in his native England.

"What we've found is that each store serves its customers in a slightly different way," Daunt said. "They feed off each other and make each other better. Each might become more distinctive."

Past meets future

Still, this is a huge change for a signature Lexington business. Joseph-Beth was founded by Neil and Mary Beth Van Uum — the name combined their middle names — here in November of 1986. "The bookseller to the bluegrass," with the pitched roof of Lexington Green, is an iconic location where favorite authors regularly come from both near and far to do events.

Daunt has visited. He agrees it's a "beautiful store, a fabulous space."

The current owner Robert Langley was quoted as saying the sale is "necessary." In fact, some Joseph-Beth Booksellers locations elsewhere were shuttered in the past. The store went into chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010, closing a Davis-Kidd location in Nashville but protecting its core stores.

The outlook for the Lexington and Cincinnati stores now appears more stable, particularly because Daunt's love of bookstores comes across. "You want to have as many bookstores as you possibly can," he said.