- Renewed Retail Partnership Builds on Last Year’s Success with Special Making Events Throughout the Year, Culminating in the Second Annual Retail Mini Maker Faire in November
- Maker Activities Kick Off with the Unveiling of the New littleBits™ STEAM Student Set During Educator Appreciation Days (April 9-17) and the 50th Issue of Make: Magazine
New York, NY, 2016-Mar-08 — /EPR Retail News/ — Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the nation’s largest retail bookseller and a leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today announced they will be continuing and expanding their partnership with Make:, publisher of Make: magazine and producer of Maker Faire, to build on the huge success of last year’s inaugural retail Mini Maker Faire. The retail partnership highlights both companies ongoing commitment to advancing tech literacy and bringing awareness to the Maker Movement, with special events, experiences and promotions throughout the year, all culminating in the second annual retail Mini Maker Faire in November. Barnes & Noble’s second Mini Maker Faire will once again deliver authentic, credible experiences that Maker Faire attendees have historically come to expect; all the while introducing, educating and engaging others to what the Maker Movement is all about.
“We are thrilled to renew this partnership as we continue to grow the Maker Movement,” said Sherry Huss, Vice President of Event Operations for Make: and co-founder of Maker Faire. “Barnes & Noble is one of our premier partners, plus the largest retailer of Make: magazine. Together, we are furthering our mission while creating value for Barnes & Noble customers by providing access to resources and tools so they can explore and follow their own making passion.”
“We couldn’t be more excited to continue our retail partnership with Make: and to have the opportunity to further the momentum we created last year with the first-ever retail Mini Maker Faire,” said Kathleen Campisano, Vice President of Toys & Games at Barnes & Noble. “This year, we’re focused on delivering even more Maker experiences by hosting Making events, participating in the creation of custom content and offering exclusive Maker merchandise both in-store and online. The year-long effort promises to continue providing a platform for educators, Makers, doers, creators, inventors and innovators. It will culminate in the second annual retail Mini Maker Faire in November, which will build on Barnes & Noble’s commitment to promoting tech literacy in communities across America.”
littleBits STEAM Student Set Unveiled Exclusively at Barnes & Noble Stores
The first in a series of Maker activities kicks off during National Educator’s Week (April 9-17), with the launch of the new littleBits STEAM Student Set at a special preview night for teachers and educators. The littleBits STEAM Student Set engages a student’s natural love of play and curiosity through fun, invention-based learning and comes with a comprehensive Teacher’s Guide to make lesson planning engaging and easy. During Educator Appreciation Days, teachers and educators can come to Barnes & Noble for an exclusive demonstration of the STEAM Student Set, which will be featured alongside other new products for the classroom that will be announced in the coming weeks. The littleBits STEAM Student Set will be available for preorder at Barnes & Noble during Educator Appreciation Days and will be available starting in May.
“We’re delighted that our newest product, the littleBits STEAM Student Set, will be available for educators to experience and preorder at Barnes & Noble stores across the country during National Educator’s Week,” said Ayah Bdeir, founder and CEO of littleBits. “Our mission is to empower everyone to create inventions, large and small, and we know that Barnes & Noble will help us reach educators who are leaders in advancing this cause. We invite educators across the country to visit their local Barnes & Noble to witness firsthand how a product like littleBits can have a meaningful impact on how their students think creatively, collaborate and invent.”
About Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) is a Fortune 500 company, the nation’s largest retail bookseller, and a leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products. The Company operates 640 Barnes & Noble bookstores in 50 states, and one of the Web’s premier e-commerce sites, BN.com (www.bn.com). The Nook Digital business offers a lineup of popular NOOK® tablets and eReaders and an expansive collection of digital reading and entertainment content through the NOOK Store®. The NOOK Store features more than 4 million digital books in the US (www.nook.com), plus periodicals and comics, and offers the ability to enjoy content across a wide array of popular devices through Free NOOK Reading Apps™ available for Android™, iOS® and Windows®.
General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained by visiting the Company’s corporate website at www.barnesandnobleinc.com.
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About Maker Media
Maker Media is a global platform for connecting makers with each other, with products and services, and with our partners. Through media, events and ecommerce, Maker Media serves a growing community of makers who bring a DIY mindset to technology. Whether as hobbyists or professionals, makers are creative, resourceful and curious, developing projects that demonstrate how they can interact with the world around them. The launch of Make: magazine in 2005, followed by Maker Faire in 2006, jumpstarted a worldwide Maker Movement, which is transforming innovation, culture and education. Headquartered in San Francisco, Maker Media is the publisher of Make: magazine and the producer of Maker Faire. It also develops “getting started” kits and books that are sold in its Maker Shed store as well as in retail channels. The Make: brand caters to a universe of more than 25 million makers collectively across its Make: magazine, makezine.com, Maker Faires, and Maker Shed properties.
About littleBits
littleBits is the New York based hardware startup that is on a mission to Democratize Hardware by empowering everyone to Create Inventions, large and small, with a platform of easy?to?use Electronic Building Blocks. The company’s innovative building blocks snap together with magnets to allow anyone to build, invent, and prototype with electronics independent of age, gender and technical background – no soldering, wiring, or programming required. littleBits breaks down powerful technology – from music with the littleBits Synth Kit, to the Internet of Things with the Smart Home Kit – and makes the technology accessible and easy to understand. The company was founded in 2011 by MIT graduate, TED Senior Fellow and cofounder of the Open Hardware Summit, Ayah Bdeir, and has grown to be a global leader in hardware. Bdeir was named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business, one of Inc.’s “35 Under 35” and “Entrepreneurs to Watch,” one of Entrepreneur’s “10 Leaders to Watch,” one of Popular Mechanics’ 25 Makers Who Are Reinventing the American Dream, and one of MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35. The littleBits platform includes more than seven kits and 67 interoperable modules with millions of products sold in over 100 countries around the world.
The company was named in CNN’s “Top 10 Startups to Watch”, one of the CNBC Next List, and has been profiled by the BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Wired, Popular Mechanics. To learn more, visit littleBits.com.
CONTACTS:
Mary Ellen Keating
Senior Vice President
Corporate Communications
Barnes & Noble, Inc.
(212) 633-3323
mkeating@bn.com
Alan McNamara
Director
Corporate Communications
Barnes & Noble, Inc.
(212) 633-3379
amcnamara@bn.com
Brita Muller
Marketing & Communications
Maker Media, Inc.
(415) 949-1423
brita@makermedia.com