Following lagging holiday sales, Barnes & Noble laid-off nearly 100 employees at their New York corporate headquarters yesterday.

Last week the bookseller announced that sales had dipped 5.2 percent during the nine-week holiday season, along with an 11 percent drop in website book sales. The company noted that these employees will receive an "enhanced severance plan," offering the former employees health benefits for the next year.

CEO Stephen Riggio explained in a statement: "It should be noted, this is the first time in the company's history we've had to do this ... The business climate in which we are operating is unprecedented, and therefore, the reduction in expenses is inevitable."

MobyLives adds more reporting: "Among those let go were executives at B&N's publishing imprint, Sterling Publishing, including Philip Turner, (formerly of Carrol & Graf and pioneering indie Thunder's Mouth Press), who'd been running Sterling imprint the Union Square Press."