The world's largest bookselling chain, Barnes & Noble, posted a profit of $3.8 million or 5 cents a share for the third quarter, which compares with a loss of $6.8 million during the same period a year ago.  Barnes & Noble achieved total sales of $1.13 billion for the quarter, which represented a 13.6% increase over last year.  Total bookstore sales were up some 6.1%, but the B. Dalton unit continued to falter with sales plummeting some 17.8% to $51.9 million.

 

The key performing unit for Barnes & Noble was the GameStop chain of videogame stores (of which Barnes & Noble owns a major percentage), where sales grew a superlative 44.3% to $286.7 million.  Barnes & Noble's share of GameStop's third quarter profits came to a whopping $4.6 million, a total that is greater than B& N's entire profit for the quarter.  In spite of increased bookstore sales, it was videogames that made the difference and provided Barnes & Noble with a profitable quarter.