Retail Sales at Bookstores Drop in December

By Elizabeth Knapp on Thursday, Feb 16, 2012

Despite reports of strong holiday sales at many independent bookstores, December retail sales at bookstores dropped by 15.6 percent compared to December 2010, according to preliminary figures recently released by the Bureau of the Census. The decline was fueled, in part, by the closing of Borders.

December 2011 bookstore sales are estimated at $1.7 billion, compared with sales of $2 billion for the same period last year.

Total retail and food service sales in December are estimated at $460 billion, compared with $434.3 billion in October 2010, an increase of 5.6 percent.

For the year as a whole, retail sales at bookstores were down just 0.8 percent from 2010.

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

1,547

6.8

October

949

888

-6.6

November

1,030

949

-7.9

December

1,982

1,672 (p)

-15.6

YTD

15,662

15,530 (p)

-0.8

(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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