Dear Barnes & Noble Shoppers,

Your Barnes & Noble stores at the Almaden Plaza and the El Cerrito Plaza are under threat of closing. As of the beginning of this year, we learned that our stores will possibly not stay open once the leases run out at the beginning of next year. This unfortunate timing impacts the workers, who just formed unions for better working conditions and living wages, and directly threatens the strides we have taken to improve the customer experience at our stores.

We are asking the public to assist in this petition to save the jobs of us and our coworkers. We are being told by corporate that our current leases may not be renewed, but if this happens, we can still fight for the employees of these stores to be relocated. This way, in the event of a closure, booksellers can continue working the job they love to have and fought to make better. Please add your name to this petition to help save your neighborhood stores, the communities we have built over the past 20 plus years, and the hardworking teams who continually fight to make Barnes & Noble a better company for all.

We take pride in knowing that many of you have shopped with Barnes and Noble since you were children, and we're thrilled to have so many regulars who greet us at our registers and join us for coffee in our cafe. Potentially losing two staple Bay Area Barnes & Noble stores is to lose more than just stores; we will lose communities where folks hang out after work or school, to study somewhere comfortable, and many other reasons.

Additionally, if our stores are forced to close, shoppers and staff will have to travel through 25 to 30 minutes to our locations like Stevens Creek or Emeryville if they wish to continue shopping at Barnes & Noble. Our customers deserve to have a Barnes & Noble location close to home, and keeping our stores open ensures nobody has to go out of their way to find their next favorite read.

Thank you for your support,

The Employees of Barnes & Noble Stores 2909 and 2113, at Almaden Plaza and El Cerrito Plaza