Barnes & Noble Ranked The Nation’s Top Bookseller Brand by the 2009 Equitrend® Brand Study by Harris Interactive for the Sixth Consecutive Year

By Press Release - Jun 08 , 2009

New York, NY – June 8, 2009 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, today announced that, for the sixth year in a row, the company is the nation’s top bookselling brand. According to the 2009 EquiTrend® Brand Study conducted by Harris Interactive®, Barnes & Noble is the number one bookstore in overall brand equity, which is determined by a combination of the brand’s performance on familiarity, quality, and purchase intent. Barnes & Noble is also number one in overall quality among the nation’s bookstores measured for the second year in a row. For the first time, Barnes & Noble is the number two retailer in trust among all retailers tested. The study is based on individual responses from more than 20,000 U.S. consumers who were interviewed for this highly respected annual survey.

“Barnes & Noble is proud to be the bookseller brand that is synonymous with a top customer experience,” said Steve Riggio, chief executive officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. “Our bookstores provide premium product offerings and service of the highest quality in an atmosphere that enables customers to relax and enjoy.”

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 777 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble is the nation’s top bookseller brand for the sixth 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.

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

Methodology
A sample of 24,446 U.S. consumers ages 15 and over were surveyed online by Harris Interactive between March 26 and April 13, 2009 and the survey took an average of 35 minutes to complete. The sample was from the Harris Interactive online panel of respondents, a multimillion-member database consisting of cooperative respondents who have double-opted in to be randomly invited by Harris Interactive to take part in online surveys.

The total number of brands rated was 1,203. Each respondent was asked to rate a total of 60 randomly selected brands. Each brand received approximately 1,000 ratings.

Data were weighted to be representative of the entire U.S. population of consumers ages 15 and over on the basis of age by sex, education, race/ethnicity, region, income, and data from respondents ages 18 and over were also weighted for their propensity to be online.

About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is a global leader in custom market research. With a long and rich history in multimodal research that is powered by our science and technology, we assist clients in achieving business results. Harris Interactive serves clients globally through our North American, European and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

Mary Ellen Keating
Senior Vice President
Corporate Communications
Barnes & Noble, Inc.
(212) 633-3323

Carolyn J. Brown
Director
Corporate Communications
Barnes & Noble, Inc.
(212) 633-4062