Barnes & Noble lost $12.6 million in the quarter ending October 30th and lowered its full year guidance in the report released on Tuesday.  Same store sales (excluding its recently acquired college stores) declined 3.3%, while total sales (also excluding college) were up 1%.  The increase was driven by online sales growth.  The previous quarter was also worse than expected (see “B&N Quarter Weaker than Expected”). 

Book sales in the stores were not broken out but couldn’t have been good, because Toys & Games were up 42% behind expansion of the departments. 

The company is focusing heavily on expanding its digital sales, and expects them to be at a $400 million per year run rate in digital by the end of its fiscal year next April.  It launched the color Nook in October (see “B&N Introduces Color Nook”). 

Thanksgiving weekend sales rocked, with comp store increases of 17% for its B&N stores and online sales up over 105%. 

The company is projecting 5% to 7% comp store sales increases for the quarter ending late January but that won’t be enough to save its year, for which it lowered guidance to a $.75 to $1.15 loss per share.  That’s quite a bit worse than the $.50 loss per share the company forecast just one quarter ago.