The U.S. Census Bureau continues to report interesting sales figures for bookstores. According to the bureau's preliminary numbers, September bookstore sales rose 6.7%, to $1.6 billion, even though many bookstores did little or no business on September 11 and the next few days. Sales for the entire retail segment were down 2.1% in the month. Last month, the government reported that August bookstore sales rose 20.1%; that number has been revised upward and now shows a sales increase of 24.1% in the month. For the first nine months of 2001, bookstore sales are reported to have increased 10.3%, to $12.68 billion, while the entire retail segment posted a 2.7% increase.