Barnes & Noble Reports Holiday Sales Decline, 1.6% Same-store Sales Increase

Barnes & Noble Inc. said holiday sales in stores and online fell 0.8% to $1.1 billion for the nine weeks ending Jan. 2, 2016. The decline was attributed to lower online sales and store closures. Same-store sales were up 1.6%, excluding Nook products. Nook sales decreased 25.8% to $41.2 million, with digital content sales totaling $21.3 million and device and accessory sales totaling $19.9 million for the period. The company maintained its fiscal 2016 same-store sales guidance, forecasting an increase of about 1%. Barnes & Noble shares are up 1.9% in premarket trading but down 42.8% for the past 12 months. The S&P is down 1.8% for the same period.