Barnes & Noble to Open New Store At the Gateway Mall Prescott, Arizona; New Superstore Debuts On March 8.

Business Editors

NEW YORK, NY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 5, 2002

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller, will open a new 25,000-square-foot superstore on March 8 at The Gateway Mall, located at 3250 Gateway Blvd. The store will stock close to 200,000 book, music, DVD and magazine titles and include a cafe serving Starbucks coffee. The new Prescott Barnes & Noble will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday and employ approximately 50 people from the community.

The public is invited to a Preview Night Party at the new Prescott Barnes & Noble on Thursday, March 7th, from 6 to 9 p.m. Prescott mayor Rowle Simmons will preside over the ribbon cutting at 6 p.m. The evening will also feature the music of the Bradshaw Mountain High School Band. A portion of the Preview Night sales will benefit adult literacy programs in Yavapi County.

Barnes & Noble's bookselling innovations have helped established it as the number-one operator of book superstores 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 counters. 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 new counters are connected in real time
to the 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.

-- 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.

"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 Mark Greist 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 582 Barnes & Noble superstores in 49 states. It also operates 328 B. Dalton bookstores, 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 operator of video game and entertainment software with 1,011 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.