Dive Brief:

• Barnes & Noble, which in 1965 began as a college bookstore in New York City, will add 300 college and university-based stores nationwide.

• Collegiate bookstores account for 25% of Barnes & Noble’s 2013 revenue.

• The Barnes & Noble bookstores on college campuses have moved beyond simple sellers of textbooks, however, and serve as general consumer bookstores that sell not only books beyond classroom needs, but also items like cosmetics and apparel.

Dive Insight:

While Barnes & Noble appears to be reeling from the problems at its Nook division, apparently beat by Amazon’s Kindle, it is finding more success in its brick-and-mortar operations, especially on college and university campuses. It’s a rational move to build on that success, although it remains to be seen whether the company can recover from its current troubles.