Barnes & Noble Expands Toys and Games Offering and Creates “Ultimate Playroom” Mega-Boutiques in Stores

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, today announced the creation of the ultimate play room for children with the initial rollout of 3,000 square foot boutiques in five test stores: Enfield, Connecticut; Manchester, Connecticut; North Brunswick, New Jersey; Holmdel, New Jersey; and Bronx, New York. Barnes & Noble stores have always captivated children and their families, and the addition of these unique boutiques will enhance and expand the ways in which children can enjoy their favorite bookstore. The expansive play spaces incorporate interactive displays, creativity and learning through activities, scientific discoveries, and favorite children’s characters.

Barnes & Noble's expanded Educational Toys & Games Department - Bronx, NY (Photo: Business Wire)

In unique strategic partnerships with world renowned toy and games manufacturers, Barnes & Noble has created five interactive play areas – Building, Learning, Imagining, Creating and Playing – that offer children hands-on learning experiences in a fun, engaging and comfortable environment.

“Barnes & Noble has always been a destination for families who want to foster a life-long love of reading. We’re enriching that experience even further in five key stores with these expansive play areas, and fun and interactive activities, including NOOK tables where even the little ones can play with the latest NOOKcolor eReader,” said Jaime Carey, Chief Merchandising Officer at Barnes & Noble. “Just as Barnes & Noble has always helped customers pick quality books for themselves and their children, we want to help parents and their children choose quality educational toys and games in a very fun and hands-on way.”

Mr. Carey said the company planned to roll out more boutiques after a period of testing. The newly designed spaces include:

• Building
  This area encourages construction that promotes critical thinking and problem solving and features partnerships with LEGO and Rokenbok.

• Learning
  This area encourages interactive reading through digital books and educational hand-held gaming and features a NOOK kids interactive station and products from LeapFrog, including the NEW Leapster Explorer.

• Imagining
  This area encourages creative thinking and cause and effect interactivity and features products from Playmobil, Calico Critters and Puppet Theater.

• Creating
  An interactive creativity area that features products from Crayola and American Girl crafts.

• Playing
  This area encourages play that support books. Featured products include Thomas the Tank Engine, Olivia, and Curious George.

In addition to the five mega boutiques, Barnes & Noble has just completed the expansion of its Toys & Games departments in stores nationwide just in time for the holiday season. The newly designed Toys & Games departments are playful, imaginative and kid-centric centers designed to create fun and engaging learning experiences with the excitement of play. The Toys & Games department is divided into two sections: Educational Toys & Games for children from birth-12 years old; and Adult Games & Puzzles for children age 13-adults. Stores will feature more than 2,000 products for children from infancy to 12 years of age, and offer the largest selection of educational, hand-picked, quality toys and games designed to help kids learn and grow.

“Busy parents and gift-givers don’t have to wade through aisles of cheap, faddish toys; Barnes & Noble has already selected the best of the best, hand-picking and highlighting exceptional and engaging learning toys and games, fun family game night selections and puzzles and games for adults,” Mr. Carey added.

The Educational Toys & Games department will have products that strengthen a child’s ability to learn and grow through play. In this section, customers will find products designed to encourage and support key developmental milestones. Customers can shop the outstanding selection of educational toys and games in three distinct ways: by category; by brand; and by age.

The Games & Puzzles department has expanded its already rich selection to now include added depth and breadth in the following categories: family games; party games; strategy games; card games; dice games; and word games. The Puzzles category will feature an ever-changing array of imagery, sure to challenge all levels of puzzlers.

Toys, Games & More for Parents and Kids at BN.com

Barnes & Noble stores aren’t the only place to find a wide assortment of toys and games, customers can find thousands of additional toys and games online at Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com/toys). The BN.com Toys & Games Department features an even greater breadth of selection with more than 5,000 products, including expanded collections from popular brands carried in stores, as well as products sold exclusively online, such as Barbie and Nerf. Customers can shop by age, gender, category or brand. And the BN.com Gift Finder makes holiday shopping even easier. Using this exclusive tool, gift givers can get expert advice and guidance in choosing the perfect gift based on a child’s age, interests and reading level. Product demonstrations and recommendations are also available.

Recommended Top 10 Educational Toys & Games for the Holidays

This holiday season gift giving has never been easier. The toys and games experts at Barnes & Noble have compiled the Barnes & Noble Top 10 list of Educational Toys & Games for infants to 12-year-olds. Gift suggestions range in price from $16 to $50 and are available in Barnes & Noble stores and online at BN.com (www.bn.com/toys).

The 2010 Barnes & Noble Top 10 Educational Toys & Games for the holidays are:

• Automoblox (3-pack)
• I Spy Preschool Game (Briarpatch)
• Twilight Turtle (Cloud B)
• Crazy Fort
• Alphabet & Numbers Puzzle Pairs (eeBoo)
• Illustory (Creations By You)
• Scribble & Write (LeapFrog)
• Text & Learn (LeapFrog)
• Magic Science for Wizards Only (Scientific Explorer)
• Ultimate Lego Building Set

And for the adults on your list, the Adult Games & Puzzles department has something for everyone. Adults can enjoy the challenge and social interaction of playing games with the highly curated selection of the best, most interesting games and puzzles. The Barnes & Noble selection is easy to shop, divided into the four popular categories of: family games; party games; strategy games and word games. And for family game night, stores will also feature a “Have to Have” display with the games every family should have including timeless favorites Life, Sorry, Clue, Battleship, Pictionary, Scattergories and Monopoly.

For video of the Toys & Games Department please click here.

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 633 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 NOOKTM 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.

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

NOOK™, NOOKstudy™, LendMe™, Read In Store™, More In Store™ and Lifetime Library™ are trademarks of Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Other trademarks referenced in this release are the property of their respective owners.

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