Barnes & Noble at UConn in downtown Storrs is closing its doors at the beginning of the New Year to make way for a new brewery, the first of its kind in the village.
Urban Lodge Brewery, which is opening in the fall of 2026, is also part of an academic initiative with UConn to provide experiential and academic learning opportunities for students to connect with the craft beer industry, according to university officials.
“Our goal isn’t just to create a pipeline of new beer brewers in the world,” said Jennifer Mathieu, UConn’s executive director of the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. “It is to create interdisciplinary courses for students to get hands-on experience. It provides an opportunity to translate this experience to many other industries and roles.”
The brewery is expected to open in the fall of 2026 and will provide internships and job opportunities for students, according to Mathieu.
The idea to bring a brewery to downtown Storrs culminated from the wide interest from students in the UConn Brewing Innovation, a collaboration between the College of Engineering, the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources and the School of Business. It was formed in 2023 to provide students with academic courses and experiences concerning the brewing industry such as the science of brewing.
In one course, the Brew Crew, Mathieu explained, 60 students worked with Urban Lodge Brewing to market and design a new beer from the raw ingredients to the end results.
“The class works with Urban Lodge Brewery to design two that they launch into the market,” she said.
Mathieu said there are more than 200 applications per semester for the Brew Crew course.
Kyle Muncy, director of Brand Partnerships and Trademark Management at UConn, said the decision to close the Barnes & Noble was a joint one between the university and Barnes & Noble, which housed its store at 1 Royce Circle since 2016.
Muncy said the bookstore on campus would remain open.
“In talking with Barnes & Noble we mutually agreed it would be in the best interest of the university and Barnes & Noble for them not to operate the location as a bookstore and that we would institutionally have a better use for it in executing the brewing innovation and Urban Lodge partnership,” Muncy said.
Barnes & Noble could not be reached for comment on this story.
Michael Gerrity, co-owner of Urban Lodge Brewing, said the partnership with UConn is “extremely collaborative.
“There’s a lot of excitement from the students,” he said. “The brewers really enjoy the curiosity and the excitement that the students bring and it brings a new level of energy into the brewery. It will be nice to be around a very vibrant and populated community.”
Mathieu said the hope is to have other community events at the brewery and provide a space for students to come and connect with one another. Other ideas include creating a community brewing program and merchandise, she said.