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Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest United States specialty retailer, operating chiefly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores and is headquartered in New York City. The company operates Bookstop, Bookstar and B. Dalton Booksellers chains in some markets. These stores are smaller, being found in outdoor strip malls and 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. 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. It plans to open 30-35 new stores every year.

Barnes & Noble originated in 1873 when Charles M. Barnes opened a book-printing business in Wheaton, Illinois. The first true bookstore was set up by his son, William, in partnership with G. Clifford Noble, in 1917 in New York City. The business was purchased in 1971 by Leonard Riggio, who oversaw the growth of the struggling business. B&N's 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 in 1997, largely to compete with Amazon.

Unlike other bookstores, Barnes & Noble publishes many of the books it sells, inexpensively reprinting non-copyrighted titles or acquiring the U.S. or English language rights from another publisher. In addition, Barnes & Noble commissions reprint anthologies and omnibus editions using in-house editors.

From circa 1992 through early 2003, Barnes & Noble released a series of literary classics for adults and children under the imprint Barnes & Noble Classics Collection. Originally available only in hardcover, most titles came in a black or cream-colored dustjacket edition. In 2003, Barnes & Noble revamped and expanded its line of Literature Classics, releasing them in both hardcover and mass-market editions. As of October 2005, the company continues to release new titles to its Classics selection.

Most Barnes & Noble stores feature a Barnes & Noble Café, serving Starbucks beverages, bakery goods from The Cheesecake Factory, sandwiches, and a variety of other specialty products. Although the cafés are owned and operated by Barnes & Noble, the Starbucks logo features prominently in the overall branding package. This leads to confusion for some customers when they attempt to use Starbucks stored-value cards, which are not accepted or sold.

In 2004, Barnes & Noble began offering wi-fi in the café area of selected stores, using the AT&T FreedomLink network. As of late 2005, AT&T wireless Internet service was available in 600 out of B&N's 850 stores, with all stores to be wired by the end of 2006. Often, AT&T and Barnes & Noble offer free wi-fi access during promotional campaigns with use of a coupon.

Source: Wikipedia - News Reports

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