Helped by a 3.0% increase in comparable sales of books, revenues at Hastings Entertainment rose 3.4%, to $112.8 million, for the first quarter ended April 30. The multimedia retailer also reported a net income of $569,000, compared to a loss of $767,000 in last year's first period. Hastings president John Marmaduke said the book department "is one of our areas of focus for fiscal 2002," adding that the improvement in the quarter was the result of initiatives started in the second half of last year. The company declined to elaborate on what new programs were initiated.
While book sales enjoyed a bump up in the quarter, the major factor driving sales growth was large gains in the DVD and video game categories, which helped to offset declines in the music segment.
