In a move that would spell increased sales opportunities for the Kindle-like Barnes and Noble (B&N)’s Nook e-book reader, the availability of the e-reader has been expanded to the tech-enthusiastic customers of the 1,070 US stores of Best Buy electronics retailer.

According to a Monday announcement by B&N and Best Buy, the Nook – along with its accessories like covers and screen protectors, and its free BN eReader software - will be available to consumers at Best Buy’s US retail outlets Sunday, April 18 onwards.

Nook, which had a somewhat-shady launch last year, was thus far a hard-to-get device; available only at B&N bookstores, most of which had put up prominent Nook kiosks near their entrances.

The expanded availability of the Nook comes after B&N has issued software patches to fix the e-reader’s early flaws – bugs and kinks - that widely drew flak from analysts, adding to the e-reader woes of supply shortages.

About the increased availability of Nook, which follows the recent Apple iPad launch, B&N’s Executive VP e-commerce Kevin Frain said: “To date, we've limited Nook distribution to Barnes & Noble retail and online stores and the customer response to our eBook Reader has exceeded our expectations. We have enormous respect for the Best Buy organization and its focus on providing technology solutions for millions of customers.”