You’ve probably spent a rainy Saturday afternoon wandering the aisles of a Barnes & Noble, latte in hand, wondering how this giant became the last man standing in the brick-and-mortar book world. Most people assume there was just some guy named Barnes and a guy named Noble who shook hands and started a shop.
Honestly? It’s way more complicated than that.
The story of who founded Barnes and Noble isn't a straight line. It’s a messy, 150-year-old saga involving a Civil War chaplain, a Harvard clerk, a college dropout, and a bookstore that wasn't even called Barnes & Noble when it started. If you look at the sign today, you’re looking at a brand that has been "founded" at least three different times depending on who you ask.
The Illinois Roots: Charles Montgomery Barnes
The "Barnes" name actually starts in 1873, but not in New York. It starts in a home in Wheaton, Illinois.
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Charles Montgomery Barnes was an ordained minister and a former chaplain for the 93rd Illinois Volunteer Regiment during the Civil War. After the war, he had some health issues that kept him from the pulpit, so he pivoted. He started selling used books out of his house.
He wasn't trying to build an empire. He was basically a "jobber"—a middleman for school books and stationery. He moved the operation to Chicago, named it C.M. Barnes & Company, and focused almost entirely on the textbook market.
Interestingly, if you’ve ever bought a book from Follett, you’re actually shopping at Charles’s original company. When Charles retired, his son William took over, but the Illinois business eventually became the Follett Corporation.
So, where does the bookstore we know come in? That required a move to the East Coast.
The New York Connection: William Barnes and G. Clifford Noble
The year was 1917. World War I was raging, and William Barnes—Charles’s son—decided he’d had enough of the Chicago scene. He sold his stake in the family business and headed to Manhattan.
In New York, he met Gilbert Clifford Noble.
Noble wasn't a newcomer. He’d been working at a bookstore called Arthur Hinds & Company since 1886. He started as a clerk right after graduating from Harvard and worked his way up to partner. By the time William Barnes arrived, the store was called Hinds & Noble.
William bought out Hinds' share, and they officially stuck the names "Barnes & Noble" on the door at 31 West 15th Street.
What they actually sold
They weren't selling the latest thrillers or celebrity memoirs. They were a textbook house. If you were a student in New York in the 1920s, you went there for your Latin primers and math books.
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- 1932: They moved to the famous flagship location at 18th Street and Fifth Avenue.
- The Depression Era: While most businesses were failing, they thrived because people still needed to go to school.
- Muzak: In 1940, they were one of the first stores to pipe in that soothing background music to keep shoppers from getting "book fatigue."
The Man Who Actually Built the Empire: Leonard Riggio
If Charles Barnes started the name and William/Gilbert started the New York shop, Leonard Riggio is the person who founded the Barnes & Noble we actually visit today.
By the late 1960s, the original Barnes & Noble was struggling. The last family member to run it, John Barnes, had passed away. A conglomerate called Amtel bought it, but they were better at making toys and tools than selling books. The business was tanking.
Enter Leonard Riggio. He was a 24-year-old NYU dropout who had opened a competing student bookstore called the Student Book Exchange (SBX) in Greenwich Village. He was scrappy. He was aggressive.
In 1971, Riggio did the unthinkable: he borrowed $1.2 million to buy the struggling Barnes & Noble flagship.
"The bookstore business was an elitist, stand-offish institution. I liberated it from that." — Leonard Riggio
Riggio didn't just want to sell textbooks. He wanted to sell everything. He opened the "Sales Annex" across the street, which featured grocery carts and piles of discounted books. He was the first guy to treat books like a commodity—like a supermarket would treat cereal.
Why the "Founder" Question is Tricky
If you ask the corporate office today, they’ll give you a timeline starting in 1873. But effectively, the company has had three distinct "births":
- 1873: The spiritual birth in Illinois (Charles Barnes).
- 1917: The brand birth in New York (William Barnes & G. Clifford Noble).
- 1971: The modern retail birth (Leonard Riggio).
Most historians credit Riggio with the "Superstore" concept—the big chairs, the cafes, the permission to loiter for hours without buying anything. Before him, bookstores were dusty, quiet places where you were expected to buy a book and get out. Riggio made them "the third place" (a term Starbucks later popularized).
What Really Happened with the Noble Family?
A lot of people wonder if the "Noble" family is still involved. Honestly, they checked out pretty early. G. Clifford Noble sold his share to William’s son, John Wilcox Barnes, in 1930.
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The Noble family kept a separate publishing business for a while, but the retail side has been out of their hands for nearly a century.
Actionable Insights for Book Lovers and History Buffs
Knowing the history of who founded Barnes and Noble changes how you see the store. It wasn't built by "book people" in the poetic sense—it was built by businessmen who understood logistics and student needs.
- Check the imprint: Next time you’re in the store, look for "Barnes & Noble Classics." This is a callback to their 1930s roots when they started publishing their own versions of out-of-print books to save money.
- The Flagship: If you're ever in NYC, the Union Square location is the spiritual successor to that 1932 flagship. It still carries that "university" energy that started the whole thing.
- Watch the transition: As of 2026, the company is now owned by Elliott Advisors and run by James Daunt. They are moving away from the "supermarket" feel and back toward a "local bookstore" vibe—ironic, considering Riggio’s whole mission was to kill the "fusty" local shop feel.
The reality is that Barnes & Noble didn't survive because of a single founder. It survived because it kept being "refounded" by people who knew how to pivot when the market changed. Whether it was Charles Barnes switching from preaching to textbooks, or Leonard Riggio switching from textbooks to "book supermarkets," the store is a masterclass in retail survival.
Next Steps:
If you want to see the impact of these founders firsthand, you should look into the history of the B. Dalton acquisition in 1987. That move by Leonard Riggio is what actually turned the brand into a national household name, moving it from a New York staple to a mall powerhouse. You can also research James Daunt, the current CEO, to see how the company is being "founded" yet again for the digital age.