Papillionbusinesses.com Interview with Rob Herpel
Rob Herpel stands infront of the New & Noteworthy section near the entrance of Barnes & Noble in Papillion
Papillionbusinesses.com here at Barnes and Noble in Papillion with…
I am Rob Herpel, the store manager.
We’ve been very excited for you to come here. Please tell us a little bit about your personal journey here and then the store’s journey here.
Well, my personal journey, I’ve been with Barnes and Noble for about 27 years. I was in Lincoln, and then I’ve been back up here at the Oakview store as kind of a waiting list store for almost the last year and a half. We’ve had some delays, of course, that type of stuff, but our team has been able to get in here, finally, about two weeks ago and are very excited to show off the store. A lot of hard work has been put in, and it’s been a journey of many booksellers from across the Midwest helping us out, from all the way to Kansas City to Sioux Falls. So we’re definitely excited to be here and to show off the store.
It’s beautiful just coming in here, with the displays and all the colorful books that make you really intrigued as to what stories or facts they tell. And there’s just really nothing like a book.
The books here are kind of the backbone of learning and education and entertainment and like I was saying, there’s always more information in detail.
Do you know why they picked Papillion?
The location. There hasn’t been a bookstore out in this area for quite some time. We lost stores in this area due to the Crossroads Mall having a change of plans during the COVID days, so this location became available and was definitely something that was of interest to Barnes & Noble, which is on a growth pattern currently. We wanted to definitely put more stores back into this area of Nebraska and the Omaha area.
What would you like people to know about this store and come and explore?
About this store… it’s a new concept type of store. When you walk in, it’s going to be different from when you’ve walked into in the Oakview store or any of our stores we’ve had for many years. Much brighter, much lighter displays. We have a lot more gift focus, and we have a wonderful café, so it’s a store that has all the different parts of what customers expect from Barnes & Noble, and hopefully they will get that from this store.
Thank you.
Sure.
Barnes & Noble
7949 Towne Center Pkwy,
Papillion, NE 68046
(Previously was Best Buy and is next to PetSmart)