Barnes & Noble To Open New Store At 371 Putnam Pike Smithfield, Rhode Island; New Bookstore Debuts On July 10.

Business Editors

Barnes & Noble

First Barnes & Noble Store in Rhode Island 

To Introduce RedDotNet Music Sampling System

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller, will open a new 26,000-square-foot bookstore on July 10 at 371 Putnam Pike in the Smithfield Crossing. The store will stock close to 200,000 book, music, DVD and magazine titles and include a cafe serving Starbucks coffee. It will be the first Barnes & Noble in Rhode Island with the new RedDotNet music sampling system. The Smithfield Barnes & Noble will be open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday and employ approximately 52 people from the community.

The public is invited to a Preview Night Party at the new Smithfield Barnes & Noble on Tuesday, July 9, from 6 to 9 p.m. Smithfield's Town Manager, Russell Marcoux, will preside over the ribbon-cutting ceremony at 7 p.m. A portion of the Preview Night sales will benefit the East Bay R.S.V.P. Literacy Group.

Barnes & Noble's bookselling innovations have established it as the number-one operator of retail bookstores in America. Its innovations include:

     -   The Readers Advantage membership program. Designed for Barnes
         & Noble's best customers, this program gives members an
         additional 10 percent off everything they buy. The annual fee
         is $25.

     -   Rapid special-order service. Special orders have been
         commonplace in bookselling, but Barnes & Noble's new service
         takes it to new heights in terms of selection and speed of
         delivery. Its booksellers are able to instantly access the
         real-time inventory of every title in the company's
         distribution network, enabling its booksellers to order and
         confirm the availability of virtually any book in print at
         the click of a button. With more than one million titles
         available, Barnes & Noble stocks more books than any
         competing retail or online bookseller, and substantially more
         titles than even the largest book wholesalers.

     -   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.

     -   RedDotNet revolutionary music sampling system. The store's
         music department will feature RedDotNet, 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.

     -   The Discover Great New Writers program. The leader in
         discovering new writers, the Discover program, now in its
         13th year, has an unparalleled record of finding tomorrow's
         literary stars from today's publishing newcomers. Over the
         years, Discover has prominently featured and promoted such
         writers as Frank McCourt, Jonathan Franzen, Laura
         Hillenbrand, Hampton Sides and Tracy Chevalier.

"We have become the market leader because of our unparalleled selection, service, convenience and the most sophisticated inventory systems in all of bookselling," said Mitchell Klipper, chief operating officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. "Our new rapid special-order systems enable us to offer our customers the largest selection and fastest delivery of any bookseller. In short, if we don't have it on our shelves, we'll get it for you and offer the convenience of in-store pickup or home delivery."

Store manager Bob Wilusz said, "Bookselling is a very local business. Underlying our success is our expertise at tailoring the selection of every store to the community it serves. I have the ability to order the books my customers need and adjust the selection to the lifestyles and interests of this community. We also plan to have an ongoing series of author signing and book discussion groups."

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) is the world's largest bookseller, operating 599 Barnes & Noble bookstores in 49 states. It also operates 298 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 percent interest.

Barnes & Noble also has approximately a 60 percent interest in GameStop (NYSE: GME), the nation's largest video-game and entertainment-software specialty retailer with 1,038 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.