Barnes & Noble’s New Lexington, KY Store Is a Stunner
This may be my favorite Barnes & Noble I've ever visited — and I've been to some very nice ones. B&N first surprised me in 2024 by opening a Lexington store inside Fayette Mall, tucked between two other retailers. It was solid but not cozy: no seating, mall-white walls, a mismatched floor of tile and laminate. Over time it grew on us anyway, and we started visiting frequently. Then, in August 2026, B&N blew that first store out of the water by relocating to a stunning new space in the same mall. I found out from a B&N email announcing the grand opening and made it there the day after it opened.
Initial B&N location inside the mall.
I love that the store is visible and accessible from both the parking lot and the mall interior. I was floored when I walked inside. First, it’s beautiful. The smell of new books hit immediately. The industrial-modern design is a perfect fit and shows how much thought went into this location.
This B&N has everything you could want in a bookstore. There are more books than the previous mall spot, plus magazines, gifts for readers, games, puzzles, Lego sets, and—new here—a music section. Every genre is well represented. There is seating if you want to browse a book before you buy. Friendly staff are easy to find, and checkout stations sit at each entrance. It has that shiny-new-penny feel, and I’m here for it.
Every time we visited the first mall store, it was busy—even on weekday mornings, when the rest of the mall was quiet. On the second day the new store was open, it was busier still, and I couldn’t be happier for them.
Photos by my husband, Patrick, at Lost the Path.
It’s been nice to have a bookstore in a mall again. I grew up wandering Waldenbooks every time I went to the mall. A bookstore in that setting is a good way to put books in front of mall shoppers—and to get book lovers like me back into the mall. Before B&N moved in, we seldom went. Since that first store opened in 2024, our trips have become more frequent. I only see that increasing with this stunning new location.
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