Bethlehem’s Moravian Book Shop — the oldest bookstore in the United States and the oldest continuously operating bookstore in the world — is getting new management for the next phase of its life.
Moravian University announced last month the end of its management contract with Barnes & Noble College. The contract will end by July 30, the university said.
ANC Consulting, a New York campus bookstore operating company, will step in to help Moravian University, which will now directly run the bookstore.
“The Moravian Book Shop represents a living piece of history,” ANC founder Angelina Carvalhal said in the release. “Our mission is to honor that legacy while equipping the university with the strategies, systems, and support it needs to run a modern, competitive, and distinctly Moravian store to effectively serve students, faculty, and the community.”
The partnership with Barnes & Noble College was fruitful and brought the store’s finances from the brink, Moravian University President Bryon Grigsby told The Morning Call, but ANC Consulting will help widen the store’s local offerings.
“We want to make this as successful as possible,” he said.
The Moravian Book Shop storefront is seen May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The book store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
The Moravian Book Shop storefront is seen May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The book store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
Moravian Book Shop inventory is seen May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
Moravian Book Shop inventory is seen May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
Moravian Book Shop inventory is seen May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
Moravian Book Shop inventory is seen May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
Moravian Book Shop inventory is seen May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
Moravian Book Shop inventory is seen May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
Employee Katie Lerch takes a phone call at the Moravian Book Shop on May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
Luisa Cadena of East Stroudsburg shops for music in the Moravian Book Shop on May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
Annie Matta of Florida shops in the Moravian Book Shop on May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
Employee Katie Lerch waits on a customer at the Moravian Book Shop on May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
Luisa Cadena of East Stroudsburg shops for music in the Moravian Book Shop on May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
Moravian Book Shop inventory is seen May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
The Moravian Book Shop storefront is seen May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The book store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
The Moravian Book Shop storefront is seen May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The book store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
Moravian Book Shop inventory is seen May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
The Moravian Book Shop storefront is seen May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The book store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
Moravian Book Shop inventory is seen May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
Moravian Book Shop inventory is seen May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
Show Caption
1 of 20
The Moravian Book Shop storefront is seen May 13, 2026, in Bethlehem. The book store’s owner, Moravian University, announced that it will end the shop’s management contract with Barnes & Noble College, working instead with ANC Consulting to help with the store. (Sharon Merkel/Special to The Morning Call)
The Moravian Book Shop, founded in 1745 and located at 428 Main St., transferred ownership in 2018 from the Moravian Church Northern Province to Moravian University.
“Everybody wants an anchor bookshop there, so we had to do that,” Grigsby said.
Barnes & Noble College did a “great job” of handling the bookshop’s revenue deficit, Grigsby said.
“Where they’re not good at, I would say, is in the local artist, in the granularity that is Bethlehem, the UNESCO World Heritage site, the connection to the Moravian face and those components,” he said. ” … They have a large corporate structure that doesn’t enable us to make changes that are really specific toward the locality.”
Changes made possible with ANC include featuring more local artists and books, especially those more about the city or the World Heritage site, which Grigsby expects to fully be implemented next year.
Staffing will also change, Grigsby said. The management contract outsourced the Moravian Book Shop operation to Barnes & Noble College, which had about five of its own employees running the store. Grigsby said the store is working to hire some of them.
The university will also more directly operate the bookstore through its students and staff while ANC will provide functions like staff training and the purchasing system.
Neither Barnes & Noble College nor ANC Consulting could be reached for additional comment.
Barnes & Noble College is part of Barnes & Noble Education, which spun off from Barnes & Noble Inc. in 2015.