Barnes & Noble Inc. shares sank 15% in Friday trading after the retailer announced holiday season sales and traffic declines. Sales for the holiday period totaled $953 million, down 6.4% from last year. Same-store sales fell 6.4% for the period, and e-commerce sales were down 4.5%. The company said same-store sales had improved in the second quarter and into November, but lower traffic in December softened sales trends. Half of the same-store sales decline was due to decreases in sales across gifts, music and DVDs. Book sales fell 4.5%. The company now expects fiscal 2018 same-store-sales declines in the mid-single digits. Barnes & Noble shares are down more than 48% for the past year while the S&P 500 index is up 20.4% for the period.
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