Another Jump in Retail Sales at Bookstores

By Karen Schechner on Thursday, Nov 17, 2011

Book sales were up for the second straight month in September, according to preliminary figures recently released by the Bureau of the Census.

September 2011 bookstore sales are estimated at $1,550 million, an increase of seven percent over September 2010’s sales of $1,488 million. Year-to-date sales are up 2.8 percent compared to the same period last year.

Total retail and food service sales in September are estimated at $381.9 billion, compared with $351.7 September in August 2010, an increase of 8.6 percent.

Period

2010 Final
(Millions of Dollars)

2011
(Millions of Dollars)

% Change
2011 over 2010

January

2,178

2,072

-4.9

February

962

1,051

9.3

March

962

973

1.1

April

871

888

2

May

1,032

1,048

1.6

June

1,040

1,018

-2.1

July

1,025

984

-4.2

August

2,183

2,440

11.8

September

1,448

1,550 (p)

7

YTD

11,701

12,024 (p)

2.8

(p) Preliminary figure

Note: Estimates reflect sales of all types of participating bookstore, including trade, college, religious, chain stores (including superstores), and others. A bookstore is defined as any retail establishment with sales comprised of more than 50 percent new books and periodicals, and estimates include sales of all products in these stores.

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