Book lovers and parents of eager readers in Tampa have watched one bookstore after another close in recent years.

Finally, there is some good news.

Barnes & Noble officials have extended a slew of leases on stores across the Tampa Bay area.

Those remaining stores are changing as well, as the company makes them more into learning and creative lifestyle centers with books, but also toys, gadgets and even kids' costumes.

Speaking about the locations in Carrollwood and South Tampa, Barnes & Noble spokeswoman Carolyn Brown said, "Both stores are operating with long-term lease extensions and we plan to be in those and all Tampa/St. Pete stores for many years to come. We do not have plans to close those stores or any in the metro area."

This is encouraging news for book lovers.

That's because Barnes & Noble Chief Executive Mitchell Klipper recently said he may close dozens of locations across the country to conserve cash, part of the company's continuing shift in focus from retail operations to digital sales on media gadgets such as the Nook tablet.

Barnes & Noble is also changing its approach as a retailer. Though it still stocks thousands of books, it has opened up space for rows of stores-within-a-store kiosks of brands such as Vera Bradley, Lego and Star Wars.

That means next to the books on religion and history, there are Batman action figures, art supplies, kids backpacks, floral-print purses, remote-controlled airplanes, Sno-cone machines and princess costumes.

In some respects, this drives Barnes & Noble more into the mode of a "lifestyle" retailer, said Barbara Kahn, a Wharton School marketing professor. Urban Outfitters, for instance, sells everything hip teenagers might need for their lifestyle: record players, T-shirts, shoes and dorm room decorations.

Restoration Hardware sells everything from paint and bed sheets to bathroom supplies and toys, all to help customers re-create an atmosphere and style of living in the stores themselves.

"Barnes & Noble and others, for good reason, feel threatened by online vendors like Amazon," Kahn said. "This suggests that there has to be a good reason to go into the physical store. But if you're going to do a lifestyle merchandizing strategy, that puts a higher threshold on actually making that experience wonderful."

Simply parking a rack with another company's popular products won't be enough in the long term, she said.

Barnes & Noble officials declined to be interviewed on their store strategy.

For now, the Barnes & Noble stores seem to have good foot traffic. On a recent Wednesday evening at a Barnes & Noble in Carrollwood, 30 people sat munching and chatting in the Starbucks restaurant area, 25 were at a book-signing event and more than 30 were strolling the book and magazine aisles.

Russell Williams was shopping for a new website design book.

"I could download it, but I want to have the physical version to highlight it and keep it at hand," Williams said. "I could buy it on Amazon, but I want to flip through it and walk out with it tonight."

Barnes & Noble stores have struggled in recent years, partly from their size. The average store can top 23,500 square feet, a size that tends to create a tough financial picture when sales are divided by square footage. For comparison's sake, Barnes & Noble generates an average of $245 per square foot, and a retailer like Perfumania generates $530, according to market researcher Retail Sail.

Sales, meanwhile, during last year's holiday season fell 11 percent, and despite growth in its Nook tablet business, the company warned that losses for last year would be worse than expected.

Having large stores puts Barnes & Noble in a similar situation as other big and struggling retailers such as Office Depot, Best Buy and Staples, and makes Barnes & Noble vulnerable to Internet retailers that don't need to support the cost of retail locations.

Making competition even tougher, Barnes & Noble's chief rival, Amazon, does not charge sales tax in Florida. Amazon does this through a tax loophole because even though Amazon ships products to Florida, it technically does not operate a "physical" presence in the state.

Still, Brown of Barnes & Noble had other good news for book lovers here. The company plans to keep stores open beyond central Tampa. That includes locations in Carrollwood, Brandon, Clearwater, St. Petersburg and Wesley Chapel.