Barnes & Noble Signs Lease for Hoover, Alabama, Store; Store Will Open in November 2003.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 8, 2003

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 Hoover, Alabama, which is in the greater Birmingham area. The 24,000-square-foot store, expected to open in November 2003, will be located in the in the Patton Creek Shopping Center on U.S. Highway 150 and Galleria Boulevard. 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 Barnes & Noble to Hoover," 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.