Credit: Rutgers' Office of Facilities and Capital Planning

Artist's rendering of proposed Gateway building with Rutgers Barnes & Noble bookstore.

Rutgers University and the City of New Brunswick announced an agreement last week with Barnes & Noble College Booksellers to open a three-story, 46,000-square-foot superstore in The Gateway redevelopment project.

The new superstore, financed by the New Brunswick Development Corporation (Devco), will provide Rutgers and the city with a high quality, full-service retail bookstore adjacent to the New Brunswick Train Station.

“Rutgers–New Brunswick needs and deserves a bookstore equal to the academic excellence of our university,” said Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick, “and Barnes & Noble is an outstanding and welcomed resource that will fully meet the needs of Rutgers students and faculty.

“In addition to the new and enhanced services and programs Barnes & Noble will bring to the university bookstores, the superstore will be a destination in itself. It will be a place for readings by renowned authors, who can just hop off the train from New York or Philadelphia. It will be a comfortable gathering place and a stimulating venue for special events. The superstore at The Gateway will serve as a dynamic bridge between Rutgers and the residents of New Brunswick.”

Information:

Faculty and Staff Q & A [PDF]

Student Q & A [PDF]

  VIDEO: Information for faculty [WMV]

The Barnes & Noble at Rutgers University superstore will have its main entrance at the intersection of College Avenue and Somerset Street, and will offer a wide range of amenities, including:

 A floor dedicated to textbooks, academic reference materials, and school supplies

• A “campus living room” and a children’s book corner that will provide space for entertainment and educational programs
  
  
• A Scarlet Knights Shop with Rutgers merchandise
  
  
• A main level featuring a wide selection of general interest books, a gift shop, and a large café that will provide a venue for book signings, poetry readings, university and community lectures, musical performances, and other local cultural events.

Barnes & Noble operates more than 20 superstores nationwide. Many of these stores have assisted the revitalization efforts in downtown urban areas at schools such as Yale, University of Pennsylvania, Boston University, and DePaul University. The Barnes & Noble at Rutgers superstore is an important component of The Gateway project in New Brunswick.

“This redevelopment project will further the bonds between Rutgers University and New Brunswick,” said Mayor Jim Cahill. “It will encourage the use of public transportation and create an exciting, dynamic, and unique location that will welcome visitors to the Hub City and Rutgers University.”

University officials are working to ensure a seamless transition as Barnes & Noble assumes management of all Rutgers University bookstores in New Brunswick on Monday, November 3. (The Student Cooperative Store on the Cook/Douglass Campus is not affected by the change.) A questions and answers page, including information about the book return policy and store closings, has been established on Rutgers’ public safety website.

Beginning Nov. 3, a full refund will be given in the original form of payment with a receipt for all merchandise except textbooks. Students can sell their books back all year long. Once the transition is complete, book requests can be submitted via paper, phone, email, or online. The Barnes & Noble website, www.bncollege.com, includes a database of more than 300,000 published textbooks, and a one-click feature to request books used in previous terms.

Barnes & Noble College Booksellers was selected by the university following a comprehensive and highly competitive request for proposals process, which included submissions from several national firms.

Devco expects to begin construction on The Gateway in early 2009. It is anticipated that the project will be completed in the fall of 2011.