For years, Barnes & Noble’s website has been competing with Amazon for the online book market. The two companies even square off directly in the realm of ebooks, each selling its own proprietary eReader. But aside from dabbling in music and movies, B&N has let Amazon be the online superstore where you can buy almost anything. Until now.

Earlier today, BN.com announced a whole new slate of offerings, including electronics and house wares. Heck you can even buy a ceiling fan from the country’s largest book store chain.

The move is an attempt to avoid the fate of bankrupt booksellers like Borders by reducing its reliance on bricks-and-mortar book sales in an era when more people are buying online and the ebook market is beginning to take off.

We haven’t had a chance to investigate the prices on B&N’s new offerings, but it will be interesting to see if it can actually compete against Amazon and the other etail biggies.

Barnes & Noble expands beyond books [Chicago Tribune]

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