Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States. Operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered in lower Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The company operates the chain of small "B. Dalton Booksellers" stores in 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 May 2, 2008, the company operated 798 stores in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Of them, 85 are B. Dalton outlets. The company has closed 882 B. Dalton stores since 1989 and says that they will continue to do so.

Before Barnes & Noble created its web site, it sold books directly to customers through mail-order catalogs. It first began selling books online in the late 1980s, but the company's web site was not launched until May 1997. The site now carries over 1 million titles. Websites: www.bn.com & www.barnesandnoble.com (consumer site) www.barnesandnobleinc.com (corporate site)