Bookstore Sales Fell 3% in May

-- Publishers Weekly, 7/14/2009 7:34:00 AM

Bookstore sales fell 3.0% in May, to $1.11 billion, according to preliminary estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. The decline was slightly less than the 3.2% drop in April, and for the first five months of 2009 store sales were off 3.8%, to $6.31 billion. For the entire retail sector, sales fell 11.5% in May and 10.2% for the five month period.