Barnes & Noble Signs Lease For Raleigh, North Carolina, Store; Store Will Open In November 2003.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 5, 2002

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller, announced it has signed a lease agreement to open a new Barnes & Noble bookstore in Raleigh, North Carolina. The 23,000-square-foot store, expected to open in November 2003, will be located in the Brier Creek Commons on Brier Creek Parkway between Lumley Road and U.S. Highway 70. The store will stock close to 200,000 book, music, DVD and magazine titles and include a cafe serving Starbucks coffee.

"We are delighted to bring a new Barnes & Noble to Raleigh," said Mitchell Klipper, chief operating officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. "We will offer readers young and old unparalleled selection, service, and convenience. We will also strive to make the store an integral part of the community by hosting an ongoing series of author signings, book discussion groups, and children's events."

Barnes & Noble's bookselling innovations include:

-- The Readers' Advantage membership program. Designed for Barnes

& Noble's best customers, this program gives members an

additional 10 percent off virtually every item in Barnes &

Noble stores and 5 percent off already discounted prices online

at Barnes & Noble.com. The annual fee is $25.

-- Rapid special-order service. Booksellers are able to access the

real-time inventory of books in the company's distribution

network, enabling its booksellers to order and confirm the

availability of over one million titles at the click of a

button.

-- Large-scale children's departments that are bigger than most

typical bookstores. Stocking over 15,000 titles in an

easy-to-browse environment, Barnes & Noble Junior departments

are designed to appeal to children, parents, teachers and

librarians. Children's story hours will be held twice a week.

-- Every CD listening stations. The store's music department

features the most advanced listening technology, enabling

customers to listen to any CD in the store by simply passing it

under a scanner. Connected to the company's online electronic

music catalog, the store's listening stations make "browsing

with your ears" a reality.

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) is the world's largest bookseller, operating 620 Barnes & Noble bookstores in 49 states. It also operates 281 B. Dalton Bookseller stores, primarily in regional shopping malls. The company offers titles from more than 50,000 publisher imprints, including thousands of small, independent publishers and university presses. It conducts its e-commerce business through Barnes & Noble.com (http://www.bn.com) in which it owns a 36% interest.

Barnes & Noble also has approximately a 60% interest in GameStop (NYSE: GME), the nation's largest video-game and entertainment-software specialty retailer with 1,200 stores.

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