September 09, 2026
@capricornbooksshop/Instagram
Capricorn Books opened four years ago in Jenkintown. With Barnes & Noble returning to the Montgomery County borough for the first time in more than a decade, the owners of the independent bookstore still believe their shop offers a different type of experience.
Barnes & Noble will open a new store in Jenkintown on Sept. 16, returning to the small borough 13 years after the bookseller closed a longstanding location that had been there since the early 1990s.
Capricorn Books, an independent shop that's been embraced in Jenkintown since opening four years ago, is bracing for the chain's return but confident in its growth.
"It's hard," said co-owner Jackie Botto, who runs Capricorn Books with her husband, Chris. "It's hard not to be worried. We're still young. I'm hoping that we can just coexist. We have had consistent, steady year-over-year growth, which is amazing. I think in this community, we're really lucky, because I took a chance (opening). The readership is just amazing, and I think we have a lot of really great supporters."
Barnes & Noble's new "boutique" store at 905 Old York Road will be located in the renovated Noble Town Center, which is across the street from where the chain had a much larger store for about 20 years that is now a CVS pharmacy. Botto, who grew up nearby in Montgomery County, remembers buying books at the Jenkintown store when she was a kid. Around the time her store opened, another Barnes & Noble nearby in Willow Grove closed after more than a decade in business.
"I don't want to be negative about Barnes & Noble," Botto said.
Barnes & Noble's business has been rebounding in recent years. After a long decline fueled by Amazon's growing market share for books and the broader adoption of e-books, the company bottomed out around 600 locations nationwide in 2023. The chain has since opened more than 120 new stores, led by CEO James Daunt's strategy of softening corporate control.
At both its new and legacy stores, Barnes & Noble now gives local staff more discretion over book selections and displays. Daunt, who founded Daunt Books in London in 1990, said Barnes & Noble had been constrained by the costs of corporate bloat and a supply chain that didn't tailor stores to their communities.
"The irony of decentralizing and pushing that responsibility down to the individual store is that they do it much, much better," Daunt said last year in an interview with Modern Retail.
The big-box company's playbook is partly drawn from the experience of independent booksellers, who saw a major resurgence during Barnes & Noble's long run of closures. The American Booksellers Association reported 3,417 member stores nationally in May, almost triple its total a decade ago.
While many of the newer independent bookstores specialize in genres like romance and fantasy, giving narrower groups of readers a wider selection of authors, shops like Capricorn Books have thrived on the instinct and tastes of their owners.
"People always ask what our 'thing' is, and my husband calls it 'Jackie's favorite things,'" Botto said. "It's really just the things that I gravitate to and the things that I like, and that is basically the curation. I like to think there's something for everyone. We don't have everything, but it is highly curated, and I think a lot of our customers notice that and do appreciate that."
Capricorn Books is about a mile away from the soon-to-open Barnes & Noble, tucked away on Yorkway Place in a more walkable section of Jenkintown. The roughly 1,000-square-foot shop is surrounded by an art supply store and cafe, a gelato shop and a bar. Smelly's Vinyl Vibes, a record store, is slated to open nearby later this month.
"We're really leaning into having a third space in this alley," Botto said. "It's a magical little space. It's very European. You can just walk up and spend time here. It's a different experience."
Capricorn Books has done some author events and partnered with local businesses, like the independent Hiway Theater, to promote books that have been adapted for the big screen. The shop also participated in the self-guided Philly Bookstore Crawl. Botto used to work in marketing, but said she hasn't had to do much promotion for the shop over the past four years. That could become more important with Barnes & Noble in town. Capricorn Books' Instagram page shares recommendations, introduces booksellers and advertises upcoming events — including a "Boo-zy Book Fair" with neighbors Human Robot Brewery — but Botto thinks more could be done.
"People are still coming in every day and saying they had no idea that we were here," she said. "I think it's time we really need to put in a little more effort to let people know there's already an indie bookstore. We're already open. It's a good opportunity for us."
The new Barnes & Noble at Noble Town Center will not have a cafe, unlike Jenkintown's previous store. Apart from the book selection, the shop will have toys, accessories, gifts and vinyl records.
In May, Daunt told the Associated Press he doesn't view Barnes & Noble's expansion as a threat to independent book stores. Most operate on small profit margins, making the arrival of a Barnes & Noble an understandable worry.
“I never thought of the market as finite," Daunt said.
The new Barnes & Noble in Jenkintown, located in a former Walgreens, has been promoting new staff on social media ahead of the grand opening and encouraging shoppers to ask for recommendations when they visit.
Botto said the overall increase in book stores, independent or otherwise, challenges misconceptions about people losing interest in books.
"I read all these articles saying that nobody reads anymore," she said. "I think it's the contrary — at least in our area."
Some shoppers at Capricorn Books ask Botto how her store is organized. She says it's organized for them to peruse and be curious.
"We are organized for discovery," Botto said. "If you want a specific book, let us know. We will find it for you, or we can order it for you. But generally, it's more to just spend time, discover and browse."
