Bookstore Sales Drop in April

Bookstore sales fell 4.3% in April, to $937 million. The decline was the steepest monthly decline so far this year and marked the third consecutive month that sales were down. The soft three month period offset a strong January, and for the first four months of the year bookstore sales were down 0.2%, to $5.17 billion. Sales for the entire retail segment were up 5.9% in April, and 7% for the year to date.