Bookstore Sales Down 1.3% in March; Off 4.2% for Quarter

-- Publishers Weekly, 5/13/2009 8:07:00 AM

Bookstore sales fell 1.2% in March, declining to $999 million, according to preliminary estimates released this morning by the U.S. Census Bureau. For the first quarter of 2009, bookstore sales were down 4.2%, to $4.24 billion. The Census Bureau revised bookstore estimates for January and February, with new figures showing a 1.7% drop in January sales and a 11.3% plunge in February, making February the worst month for bookstore sales since the downturn began last fall. For all of retail, March sales were down 10.7% and first quarter sales were off 10.2%.