Barnes & Noble Hosting a Halloween Costume Contest & Scavenger Hunt on October 13

Event is First in Series of “Celebrate More Harry Potter™ with Pottermore” Events to be Held at Select Stores Nationwide Throughout the Year

New York, NY – – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today announced that select stores nationwide will host a Halloween Costume Contest & Scavenger Hunt as the first in their yearlong series of events called “Celebrate More Harry Potter with Pottermore.”

Participants can come dressed as their favorite Harry Potter character, using as much imagination and creativity in costume creation as possible, for a chance to win exciting prizes including NOOK Simple Touch™ Reader. Participants are encouraged to get sorted into a house at Pottermore.com beforehand to compete in challenges alongside fellow Pottermore house members, including a Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavor Beans tasting challenge and a race to find the key to a “Gringotts” vault.

The Halloween Costume Contest & Scavenger Hunt event, aimed at fans age 7 to 16, will take place on Saturday, October 13, at 7:00 p.m. at select Barnes & Noble stores nationwide, and each attendee will receive a collectible giveaway of some beautifully illustrated Pottermore artwork. Customers are encouraged to visit our Store Locator (http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com) to discover if one is being hosted at their neighborhood Barnes & Noble location.

“We are thrilled to provide children of all ages with exciting new ways to experience the world of Harry Potter through Pottermore.com,” said Sarah DiFrancesco, Director of Business Development, Barnes & Noble, Inc. “The Halloween Costume Contest and Scavenger Hunt and ‘Celebrate More Harry Potter with Pottermore’ event series will satisfy the most enthusiastic Harry Potter fans.”


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About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, operates 689 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 667 college bookstores serving over 4.6 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through BN.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web’s largest e-commerce sites, which also features more than 3 million titles in its NOOK Bookstore™ (www.bn.com/ebooks). Through Barnes & Noble’s NOOK® eReading product offering, customers can buy and read digital books and content on the widest range of platforms, including NOOK devices, partner company products, and the most popular mobile and computing devices using free NOOK software. Barnes & Noble is proud to be named a J.D. Power and Associates 2012 Customer Service Champion and is one of only 50 U.S. companies so named. Barnes & Noble.com is ranked the number one online retailer in customer satisfaction in the book, music and video category and a Top 10 online retailer overall in customer satisfaction according to ForeSee E-Retail Satisfaction Index (Spring Top 100 Edition).

General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company’s corporate website: www.barnesandnobleinc.com.

About Pottermore and the Pottermore Shop
Pottermore.com is a unique online experience from J.K. Rowling, built around the Harry Potter books. Created for a new digital generation of readers, Pottermore is the place to explore more of the magical world of Harry Potter than ever before and to discover exclusive new content from J.K. Rowling.

The Pottermore Shop (shop.pottermore.com) is the exclusive home of the Harry Potter eBooks and digital audio books, available now and compatible with all leading eReaders, tablets, smartphones and MP3 players.