Barnes & Noble Signs Lease for Millbury, Massachusetts, Store; Store Will Open in August 2004.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 16, 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 Millbury, Massachusetts, which is in the Worcester area. The 25,000-square-foot store, expected to open in August 2004, will be located at Route 146 and McCraken Road in The Shoppes at Blackstone Valley, which is under construction. 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 Millbury," 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 Barnes & Noble 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 634 Barnes & Noble bookstores in 49 states. It also operates 234 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 (Nasdaq:BNBN) (http://www.bn.com).

Barnes & Noble also has approximately a 63 percent interest in GameStop (NYSE:GME), the nation's largest video-game and entertainment-software specialty retailer with 1,393 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.