Recently, certain Barnes and Noble locations transformed part of their space into the new Trend Shops, sections dedicated to popular culture. There are areas dedicated to Anime, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Marvel, DC, Disney, Doctor Who, and more. What was noticeable was that “Funko” had it’s own area. In addition to Funko products being located in most of the themed areas, there was a large area specifically for Funko items.
While these Trend Shops are not at every Barnes and Noble, the store in Newburgh, NY (about an hour north of NYC on the banks of the Hudson River) was one location that did install the new feature, which took up most of the area formally where the DVDs and CDs were located. This store is considered my local store (ever though it’s 1/2 hour away from where I live). So this past weekend I checked it out and took some pics to share with you all. Enjoy!
Want to check out a Trend Shop for yourself? Here are the current participating locations:
- Rogers, AR (Scottsdale Center)
- Mesa, AZ (Dana Park Village Square)
- Surprise, AZ (Surprise Marketplace)
- Colorado Springs, CO (Citadel)
- Newark, DE (Christiana Mall)
- Geneva, IL (Geneva Commons)
- Chicago, IL (Oakbrook)
- Champaign, IL
- Wichita, KS (Bradley Fair)
- Flint, MI (Genesee Valley Mall)
- Cary, NC
- Fargo, ND
- Albuquerque, NM (Coronado Mall)
- Newburgh, NY
- Pickerington, OH
- Oklahoma City, OK (May Ave)
- Tulsa, OK (Southrads)
- Wyomissing, PA (Reading)
- McAllen, TX (Northcross)
- Glendale, WI (Bayshore Mall)
Have you checked out one of the new Barnes and Noble Trend Shops? If so, let us know what you think below.
Matt Norris
My big issue with these pop culture stores and features is that 90% of the merch is the same. Why drive out of the way to get stuff that you can get anywhere else?
But I’m in Australia, and maybe just a little bitter and how limited our selection is down here 😉
I agree with you Lexie. The one good point about this shop in Barnes and Noble is that some of the B&N stores I have been to have their pop culture stuff so spread out that you might miss something. Having a chunk of it more centrally located in a “shop” area like this makes sense. By no means was this all of what they had for sale, and there are still other areas to scope out for the hard core collectors. However, it’s a start.