Barnes & Noble to Open New Store in the South Plains Mall at 6002 Slide Road Lubbock, Texas New Bookstore Debuts on November 4

NEW YORK, Oct 29, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller, will open a new bookstore on November 4 in the South Plains Mall at 6002 Slide Road, Lubbock, Texas. Concurrently, the Barnes & Noble at 6707 Slide Road will close. The new store will stock close to 200,000 book, music, DVD and magazine titles and include a cafe serving Starbucks coffee.

Special features will include a B&N@School section with educational tools for parents, teachers and librarians. The new Lubbock Barnes & Noble will be open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. The store will employ approximately 80 people from the community.

The public is invited to a Preview Night Party at the new Lubbock Barnes & Noble on Tuesday, November 3, from 6 to 9 p.m. A portion of the Preview Night sales will benefit Communities In Schools. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at 7 p.m. Children's author and entertainer Tim McKenzie will appear at 8 p.m.

Musician Susan Grisanti will perform throughout the evening and Clifford the Big Red Dog will be on hand to meet his fans.

The new store will host a signing of Donnie Brown Weddings with author Donnie Brown on Saturday, November 14, at 1 p.m. On Saturday, November 28, Mike Huckabee will sign copies of Do the Right Thing at 10:30 a.m.

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(R) Brand Study by Harris Interactive(R). The new store will feature: -- The Barnes & Noble Membership Program. Designed for Barnes & Noble's best customers, this program gives Members 40% off hardcover fiction and nonfiction bestsellers, 20% off all other adult hardcover books, and 10% off virtually everything else in Barnes & Noble stores and online at Barnes & Noble.com. The annual fee is $25.

-- Rapid special-order service. Can't find it on the shelf? Barnes & Noble's massive warehouse inventory is available in real-time, enabling its booksellers to order and confirm the availability of over one million titles at the click of a button.

-- Large-scale children's department. Bigger than most typical bookstores and stocking more than 15,000 titles in an easy-to-browse environment, the "Barnes & Noble Jr." department is designed to appeal to children, parents, teachers and librarians.

-- Advanced technology movie, audiobook and music-previewing system. The store will feature RedDotNet, the most advanced listening and previewing technology.

RedDotNet enables customers to preview select DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, audiobooks or CDs in the store, sampling a title by simply passing it under a scanner.

Connected to the company's online electronic catalog, the store's listening stations make "browsing with your ears" a reality. Thanks to the latest technology, RedDotNet stations also allow customers to view a three-minute clip of more than 7,000 DVDs. Additional music titles are available for special order.

-- Complimentary Wi-Fi Service. All Barnes & Noble bookstores nationwide offer customers complimentary in-store Wi-Fi provided by AT&T.

-- Community Center. The store will serve as a local community center, hosting a number of community events throughout the year. They will include author readings and discussions, book clubs and programs with local literary and cultural organizations. The store also will hold fundraiser bookfairs to help support local schools and other community institutions. For more information, please contact Terry Handley at [phone].

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 774 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 624 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(R) Brand Study by Harris Interactive(R). 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 the iPhone and iPod touch, BlackBerry(R) smartphones, as well as most Windows(R) and Mac(R) 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.

Social Media Links: Follow B&N on Twitter: www.bn.com/twitter Become a fan of our Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/barnesandnoble Subscribe to our channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/BNStudio SOURCE: Barnes & Noble, Inc.

CONTACT: Barnes & Noble, Inc. Lenore Feder, 212-633-3379 Corporate Communications [e-mail] Copyright Business Wire 2009 -0- KEYWORD: United States

North America

New York INDUSTRY KEYWORD: Online Retail

Retail

Communications

Publishing

Specialty

Other Retail SUBJECT CODE: Product/Service