Barnes & Noble Is a Leader in the Specialty Retail Category for Customer Satisfaction for Fourth Year in a Row, According to the 2010 American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI)

Top Bookseller in Survey

New York, NY – -- Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, led the specialty retail category for customer satisfaction for the fourth year in a row, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), research conducted in the fourth quarter, 2010. With a score of 82, Barnes & Noble is the top bookseller in the survey and is ranked significantly above the specialty retail category average of 78.

“We have 40,000 of the best people in retail servicing millions of customers in our stores weekly, and their number one objective is to make sure that customers feel great about their experience with Barnes & Noble. The team is excited to again receive an industry leading score in the 2010 ACSI survey,” said William Lynch, chief executive officer of Barnes & Noble. “People think of Barnes & Noble as a community destination where they can shop for Books, Toys and Gifts, relax with a snack in our café, connect to complementary Wi-Fi®, get exclusive content on their NOOK™ or NOOK Color™, meet their favorite authors, or enjoy a Storytime with their children. We’re thrilled to provide our great customers those services every day, and look forward to servicing the local communities for years to come.”

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), the world’s largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 717 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 637 college bookstores serving nearly 4 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble is the nation’s top bookseller brand for the seventh year in a row, as determined by a combination of the brand’s performance on familiarity, quality, and purchase intent; the top bookseller in quality for the second year in a row and the number two retailer in trust, according to the EquiTrend® Brand Study by Harris Interactive®. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web’s largest e-commerce sites, which also features more than two million titles in its eBookstore (www.bn.com/ebooks). Through Barnes & Noble’s NOOK™ eReading product offering, customers can buy and read eBooks on the widest range of platforms, including NOOK eBook Readers, devices from partner companies, and hundreds of the most popular mobile and computing devices using free NOOK software.