September Bookstore Sales Drop 4.5%

by Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 11/14/2008 7:39:00 AM

Reports of softness at bookstores in September were confirmed by figures released this morning by the U.S. Census Bureau that showed that bookstore sales fell 4.5% in the month, to $1.49 billion. Bookstore sales for the first nine months of the year, helped by sales at college bookstores, were up 1.8%, to $12.53 billion.

The release of the September figures came just as the Commerce Department was announcing preliminary October sales for the entire retail segment. Those numbers showed sales falling by 2.8%, the largest decline ever recorded. (Commerce Dept. measures sales in constant dollars, adjusted for inflation; PW reports sales in real dollars). The deepest decline came in auto sales, but even excluding car sales, retail sales were down 2.2% for the month. Adjusted sales at bookstores, sport good stores and hobby stores fell a total of 1.6% in the month on an adjusted basis.