Barnes & Noble opens its doors at Ontario Mills at 10 a.m. Wednesday, bringing a more than 23,000-square-foot bookstore into the space once occupied by Sam Ash Music, right next to the AMC theaters. Local author Susan Straight will cut the ribbon and sign copies of her book Mecca to mark the occasion.
The new store is part of a nationwide building spree for the bookseller, which according to Barnes & Noble is opening 60 new stores in 2026 after a similar number opened in 2025. The company says it now operates more than 730 bookstores nationwide, up from fewer than 600 as recently as 2023 — though USA Today has put the company's footprint at more than 720 locations nationwide. The Ontario location, situated at 4449 Mills Circle, brings the Inland Empire's total number of Barnes & Noble stores to nine.
Inside, shoppers will find books alongside toys, games, magazines, gift items and a Barnes & Noble Café, per the company's announcement. The Daily Bulletin reports the store includes sections devoted to manga, science fiction and fantasy, romance, young adult titles, personal development, wellness, travel, and science and nature, along with vinyl records, CDs, DVDs, Legos and children's toys.
A New Layout Built Around Local Control
Olivia Munguia, the store's manager, has worked for Barnes & Noble for five years, according to the Press-Enterprise. She previously worked at the company's Galleria at Tyler store in Riverside and its Citrus Plaza location in Redlands, and the Daily Bulletin notes she is a Redlands native and a UC Riverside graduate.
The Ontario store is apparently the first in the Inland Empire to use Barnes & Noble's newer layout, which has already appeared at Southern California locations in Brea, San Marcos and Costa Mesa, per the Daily Bulletin's reporting. Munguia told the paper the new stores are clean and beautiful and let the books themselves be the hero, and said the company plans to renovate older stores to match the look. She added that she feels honored, and that her team is excited to build something in Ontario.
Barnes & Noble's broader strategy also leans on giving local managers more say over what fills the shelves. The company is on what the Press-Enterprise describes as a new mission to put control of store inventory in the hands of local managers, part of an effort to attract younger shoppers with Japanese comics and anime series, games, toys and a broader selection of vinyl and CDs.
Filling a Long Gap in Ontario's Book Scene
The Daily Bulletin's reporting describes the new Barnes & Noble as Ontario's first well-stocked full-service bookstore in decades, possibly ever, and notes it marks the first full-service bookstore in Ontario Mills' nearly 30-year existence. Ontario itself has a population of 189,000, per the same report.
Susan Straight, who will serve as a special guest at the opening before signing books and greeting fans until at least noon, said she is excited to have a new bookstore for the area and that Barnes & Noble is beloved, according to the Daily Bulletin.
The city has not been entirely without a bookseller. Newsboy Books has operated in downtown Ontario since 1968, according to the Daily Bulletin's 2020 reporting, which traces the shop's roots to 1957, when it was founded as Ontario Newsstand. Jack Gingold, a co-owner, has run the store since 1968, and his wife Roberta is usually behind the counter. It once had sibling locations across several Southern California cities before closing all but the original Ontario storefront. That same report notes the entry of Barnes & Noble, Borders and Crown Books into the region decades ago contributed to the closure of virtually all the area's small bookstores. Newsboy still stocks newspapers and magazines including the Bulletin, Press-Enterprise, Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal alongside its books.
Part of a Statewide Expansion
Ontario's opening follows a string of California debuts for the chain this year. A San Marcos location scheduled to open October 7, 2026, described by Barnes & Noble as more than 20,000 square feet with books, toys, games, magazines, vinyl, DVDs and gifts, was billed by the company as its fifth new California store of 2026, following earlier openings in Elk Grove, Costa Mesa, Turlock and Clovis. Ontario now joins that growing list as the bookseller works to reestablish a physical presence in communities across the state.
