Barnes & Noble, Inc. is a large United States speciality retailer, which operates chiefly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores.

Additionally, in some markets, the company operates the smaller Bookstar and B. Dalton Booksellers chains, with the latter's branches chiefly located in shopping malls. The company is known for large, upscale retail outlets, many of which contain a café serving Starbucks Coffee, and for competitive discounting of bestsellers. Most stores also sell magazines, newspapers, DVDs, graphic novels, gifts, games, and music. In addition, most stores have bargain book sections, which have products such as hardcover books with deep discounts. Video games and related items were sold in the company's GameStop retail outlets until October 2004, when the division was spun-off into an independent company.

As of January 31, 2004, the company operated 840 stores in 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. They plan to open 30-35 new stores every year.

History

Barnes & Noble's start could be traced back to 1873 when Charles M. Barnes opened up a store in Wheaton, Illinois as a book printer. The first true bookstore was actually set up by his son, William (in partnership with G. Clifford Noble), in 1917 in New York City. During the 1950s and 60's their bookstore in New York vied with Brentano's as a new-book retailer. Barnes & Noble distinguished itself by selling textbooks, scholarly, and technical books as well as a huge selection of general-interest titles.

The business was purchased in 1971 by Leonard Riggio, its current chairman. Riggio oversaw the growth of the struggling business into the largest retailer of books in North America, where its critics claim it has contributed (along with online retailer Amazon.com) to the decline of local booksellers. In 2002, Leonard Riggio's brother Stephen Riggio was named CEO.

The chain opened an online bookstore, bn.com, in 1997, largely to compete with Amazon. The two businesses make an interesting comparison, because as of 2003 Amazon was and is a pure Internet business, while Barnes & Noble combines what is practically a clone of the Amazon Internet bookstore with their huge chain of brick-and-mortar retail stores.