Barnes & Noble Reports Decline in Holdiay Sales

Store sales at Barnes & Noble dipped 5.2 percent during the nine-week holiday season, the retailer reported today. Over the same period, the company’s website book sales dropped 11 percent.

According to Publishers Weekly, the bookseller emerged with a positive record: “The holiday results were good enough for B&N to keep to its earnings forecast for the full year which puts earnings per share between $1.30 and $1.60. Analysts expect earnings to come in at $1.37.”

The news follows on the heels of Borders announcement that sales had dropped 11.7 percent. Earlier this year, GalleyCat reported how Barnes & Noble CEO Leonard Riggio warned in an internal memo: “Never in all of the years I’ve been in business have I seen a worse outlook for the economy… And never in all my years as a bookseller have I seen a retail climate as poor as the one we are in. Nothing even close.”

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