Barnes and Noble set to open location at Brownsville’s Sunrise Mall

The Lower Valley will no longer have to travel to McAllen to visit this book retailer.

The city of Brownsville announced Saturday that Barnes & Noble will be opening a location in the Sunrise Mall, where The Wave used to be. The mall’s website already has a page for the store. 

According to its announcement published on Facebook, Mayor John Cowen Jr. previously teased a new store coming to the mall during this year’s state of the city address. 

There’s no additional information as to when the store is scheduled to open, nor is there any registration record filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation as of Sunday. 

The Brownsville location will be Barnes & Noble’s third location in the Valley, with two stores in McAllen. 

Previously, the city only had a Catholic bookstore until 2023, when Gilbert Hernandez opened Búho in the heart of downtown Brownsville inside the historic Calderoni Building, at 1140 E. Washington St. 

Owner Gilbert Hernandez is pictured Friday, Jan. 20, 2023, at Búho bookstore on Washington Street in Brownsville. (Denise Cathey/The Brownsville Herald)

In light of the city’s announcement, Hernandez took to Facebook to respond to “many messages concerned about our future.”

“Búho will be perfectly fine,” Hernandez said in the post after noting that the bookstore’s customers’ support proved to Barnes & Noble that Brownsville is indeed a city with curious readers. “Barnes and I can coexist; both of our bookstores offer VERY different experiences.”

Hernandez noted that Búho “has a community-driven purpose” in addition to events tailored for the city; he also laid out incoming goals to “position ourselves as a worthy competitor,” such as heralding in the coffee program, doubling their inventory, refining their second-hands and antiques to offer better selections, and possibly rolling out their “Phase 4” earlier than anticipated.

“Barnes might get customers that started their reading journey with us, and we might get readers that will have started at Barnes,” Hernandez said. “Looking at the big picture, this is a win for Brownsville, and it’s especially a win for the Sunrise Mall.”

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