Barnes & Noble Holiday In-Store Sales Down, Online Sales Up

[Press Release] New York, NY (January 7, 2010)-Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller, today reported holiday sales for the nine-week holiday period from November 1, 2009 to January 2, 2010.

Barnes & Noble store sales were $1.1 billion, a 5% decrease over the same period a year ago, with comparable store sales decreasing 5.4%. Barnes & Noble.com sales increased 17% for the holiday selling season and totaled $134 million. Barnes & Noble.com sales include nook revenues recognized since the product began shipping after Thanksgiving.

"We're pleased we were able to ship all holiday orders for nook in time," said Steve Riggio, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble. "Orders for nook remained strong throughout the holiday season, and, in fact, accelerated after we announced that we had sold out our initial supply. Demand remains strong in the New Year and greater than our supply, however, we expect production to catch-up with demand and be fully stocked in our stores in the next few months."

Based on lower than expected holiday sales, the company is reducing its third quarter earnings guidance to be in a range of $1.20 to $1.40 per share. The company's previous third quarter earnings guidance was in a range of $1.30 to $1.50 per share.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. will report third quarter earnings results and discuss its outlook for the balance of fiscal year 2010 on or about February 23, 2010.

ABOUT BARNES & NOBLE, INC.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 775 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 636 college bookstores serving nearly 4 million students and over 250,000 faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble is the nation's top bookseller brand for the sixth year in a row, as determined by a combination of the brand's performance on familiarity, quality, and purchase intent; the top bookseller in quality for the second year in a row and the number two retailer in trust, according to the EquiTrend® Brand Study by Harris Interactive®. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web's largest e-commerce sites, which also features hundreds of thousands of titles in its eBookstore (www.bn.com/ebooks). Customers can buy and read eBooks on a wide range of platforms, including nook by Barnes & Noble, the iPhone and iPod touch, BlackBerry® smartphones, as well as most Windows® and Mac® laptops or full-sized desktop computers.

General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company's corporate website: www.barnesandnobleinc.com.