Barnes & Noble Leader Stepping Down

Executive chair of Barnes & Noble (New York), Leonard Riggio, plans to step down from his post later this year after the company’s annual meeting in September, though he will remain on the board and maintain his stockholdings in the company.

Riggio helped grow the chain to what it is today: In 1971, he acquired Barnes & Noble after owning and operating his own college bookstore in New York’s Greenwich Village. Later, he bought the B. Dalton Bookseller chain of stores and began opening Barnes & Noble superstores, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The company has plans to open a new prototype store this summer, which will be one of four that it will launch by April 2017.