Barnes & Noble, and despite downward trends elsewhere in the book business over the holiday season, Borders had an even better than expected Christmas, according to a CBS MarketWatch.com report by Carolyn Pritchard. “The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based retailer said sales from Oct. 25 through Jan. 9 rose 4.8 percent to $1.2 billion, with sales at its Borders stores increasing 4 percent to $763 million,” writes Pritchard. CEO Gret Josefowicz says, “Overall, holiday 2004 was a bit better than expected in Borders superstores driven primarily by strength in book sales. This year, we saw sales improve later in the holiday season and those trends have continued, driven in part by gift card redemptions.”