October Bookstore Sales Remain Healthy

Bookstore sales for October reflected healthy growth in a period of economic uncertainty, exceeding sales for the previous October by a solid 6.8 percent. Preliminary sales of $1,187 million for October 2001 compared favorably with the $1,111 million performance of October 2000.

October bookstore sales continued the strong performance of bookstore sales during the last two years, though October was the first month this year they did not outperform overall retail. Preliminary overall October retail sales of $304 billion were 8.6 percent above the $280 billion in sales recorded the previous October.

This was the 21st month in a row that bookstore sales exceeded sales of the previous year.

(p) Preliminary figure

NOTE: Estimates reflect sales of all types of participating bookstores, 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.

SPECIAL NOTE: As of March 2001, the Bureau of the Census, Current Retail Trade Branch, began using the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) in place of the Standard Industrial Classification System (SIC). The Bureau of the Census has restated the SIC data for monthly sales to a NAICS basis to create an historic series beginning with January 1992 through March 2001.

Source: Bureau of the Census, Current Retail Trade Branch.