February marked the second month in a row that bookstore sales significantly outperformed the entire retail sector, according to preliminary estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Bookstore sales rose to $1.17 billion in February, an increase of 7.1% over February 2000. Sales for all of retail fell 0.5%. For the first two months of the year, bookstore sales were up 11.2%, to $2.87 billion, while the entire sector had a 2.9% gain.