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It’s new, inviting, comfortable and oh, so interesting. It’s a place to meet, greet, eat and learn. It’s filled with people of all ages. It offers a welcoming atmosphere, and a great cup of coffee.
What is it?
It’s the new Barnes & Noble Bookstore standing tall and welcoming all on South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre, PA.
An idea that was ten years in the making, the King’s College-Wilkes University Barnes & Noble Bookstore is a statement about creativity, change and perseverance.
Originally proposed by Dr. Chris Breiseth and Fr. James Lackenmier, the presidents of Wilkes and King’s at the time of the last great flood in Wilkes-Barre, and the last Presidential visit to the Diamond City, the bookstore came to life under the leadership of Fr. Thomas O’Hara and Dr. Tim Gilmour, the current presidents of the two center city colleges.
Nor can one ignore the significant contributions of Steve Barrouk, Larry Newman, Fred Lohman and Michael Lombardo of the Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry.
A former student and always a friend, John Augustine had a hand in the process as he oversees the Innovation Center which is one of the three parts of the local renaissance project.
Appropriately housed in the building where F. M. Kirby maintained an office from which he oversaw a retail empire that stretched across the country and the Atlantic Ocean.
It’s the same space F. W. Woolworth had a Five and Dime store, that was once part of the largest retail chain in America. Unable to compete with the megastores and shopping malls of the 80’s, the Woolworth chain disintegrated and the historic building on South Main Street began to crumble and decay.
A vision, a combination of local, state and federal resources, a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck and viola, the Innovation Center was created.
The Luzerne County Board of Commissioners, Greg Skrepenak, Todd Vonderheid and Steve Urban worked their magic, and a $1.4 million dollar loan became the key that opened the door to the project.
Scott Byers, Vice President of Finance for Wilkes University and Lisa Marie McCauley, Vice President Business Affairs and Treasurer for King’s College, spent long hours crunching numbers to make the project work.
First class office space was suddenly available, and Barnes & Noble was convinced that occupying the first class retail space one hundred paces from the center of Public Square would be a great idea.
Today, we are the beneficiaries of that decision.
Finally, there is an accommodating place to have vest pocket meetings over Starbucks Coffee Lattes, and that’s just the beginning.
Center city Wilkes-Barre is making a comeback thanks to books, beans and a beautiful magnet store called Barnes & Noble.
To paraphrase the immortal Al Jolson: “You ain’t seen nothing yet, folks!”
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