Barnes & Noble Rated America's Number One Retail Brand for Overall Quality for the Fifth Year in a Row and the Top Bookseller in Brand Familiarity; Barnes & Noble.com Rated Number One Online Bookseller for Quality.

NEW YORK -- According to the 2006 EquiTrend(R) Brand Study by Harris Interactive(R)

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller, today announced that, for the fifth year in a row, the company is the nation's top retail brand for overall quality, according to the 2006 EquiTrend(R) Brand Study conducted by Harris Interactive(R). Barnes & Noble stores are also the top booksellers in brand familiarity. Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com) received the highest rating for overall quality among online booksellers for the fourth year in a row. Approximately 26,000 U.S. consumers were interviewed in this highly respected annual survey.

"Barnes & Noble has become the definitive experiential brand in American retail," said Steve Riggio, chief executive officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. "Whether shopping for books or music CDs, relaxing in our cafes, meeting friends or attending author events, people consider our stores the ideal meeting place and cultural center in their communities."

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 797 bookstores in 50 states. For the fifth year in a row, the company is the nation's top retail brand for quality, 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 and the number one online bookseller for quality among e-commerce companies, according to the latest EquiTrend survey.

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

Methodology

The 2006 EquiTrend(R) Brand Study is a brand quality-perception study conducted online once yearly by Harris Interactive(R) among 25,666 consumers, ages 15 and older where each consumer rated 80 brands and each brand received approximately 1,275 ratings. This latest survey was conducted within the U.S. between March 7 and 16, 2006. Figures for age, sex, race, education, income, presence of children (under 18 years old) in the household, and geographic region were weighted to align them with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

With pure probability samples, with 100 percent response rates, it is possible to calculate the probability that the sampling error (but not other sources of error) is not greater than some number. With a pure probability sample of 25,666 one could say with a ninety-five percent probability that the results have a sampling error of +/-1 percentage point, and for a sample of 1,275 the sampling error would be +/-3 percentage points. However that does not take other sources of error into account. The online survey was not based on probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is the 13th largest and fastest-growing market research firm in the world. The company provides research-driven insights and strategic advice to help its clients make more confident decisions which lead to measurable and enduring improvements in performance. Harris Interactive is widely known for The Harris Poll, one of the longest running, independent opinion polls and for pioneering online market research methods. The company has built what could conceivably be the world's largest panel of survey respondents, the Harris Poll Online. Harris Interactive serves clients worldwide through its United States, Europe and Asia offices, its wholly-owned subsidiary Novatris in France and through a global network of independent market research firms. The service bureau, HISB, provides its market research industry clients with mixed-mode data collection, panel development services as well as syndicated and tracking research consultation. More information about Harris Interactive may be obtained at www.harrisinteractive.com. To become a member of the Harris Poll Online, visit www.harrispollonline.com.