A majority of independent bookstores have shown sales increases during the first six months of 2002, as compared to the same period in 2001. The finding, the result of a recent ABA survey, continues a three-year trend, which has seen a majority of independent bookstores realizing increases over a comparable prior sales period.

Bookstore sales for June showed no improvement over last year, and actually slipped a fraction of a percentage point by comparison with June 2001. Preliminary June bookstore sales figures of $1,200 million were down 0.1 percent from the $1,201 million of the previous June.

June is the fifth month in a row in which bookstore sales failed to keep pace with overall retail.

Overall retail sales of $302 billion for June 2002 came in 1.3 percent over the $298 billion realized in June of 2001.

For the second month in a row bookstore sales showed a fractional increase over the previous year. Preliminary May bookstore sales figures of $1,198 million were 0.8 percent better than the $1,188 million of the previous May.

However, May is the fourth month in a row in which bookstore sales failed to keep pace with overall retail. Overall retail sales of $313 billion for May 2002 came in 2.2 percent over the $306 billion realized in May of 2001.

Bookstore sales for April stabilized, reversing the downward trend of the past two months by eking out a slight increase over April 2001. However, April is the third month in a row in which bookstore sales failed to keep pace with overall retail.

Preliminary April bookstore sales figures of $1,042 million were 0.8 percent better than the $1,034 million of the previous April.

Overall retail sales of $297 billion for April 2002 came in 4.9 percent over the $283 billion realized in April 2001.

Preliminary March sales figures of $1,122 million were 3.7 percent off the $1,165 million of the previous March. While not a significant drop, it is disappointing when compared with bookstore performance over the last two years and when compared with overall retail recently.

Overall March retail sales for 2002 came in 2.8 percent over the $288 billion realized in March of 2001.

After 24 months of uninterrupted growth, bookstore sales dropped below their performance of a year ago. Preliminary February sales figures of $1,066 million lagged 8.3 percent behind the $1,163 million of February 2001. This decrease is in stark contrast to the nearly 29 percent increase in sales shown in January of this year.

For the same period, overall retail managed a modest increase. Overall sales of $263 billion for February were 3.5 percent over the $254 billion for the previous February.

According to recently released figures on adult trade books from market information provider Ipsos-NPD, independent bookstores in 2001 maintained market share, and accounted for 14.8 percent of the adult trade market, as measured by unit sales. This is the third year in a row that independents have maintained an approximate 15 percent market share. These sales were achieved even as the total number of independent bookseller members in ABA declined by approximately 20 percent in 2001.

Bookstore sales surged in January, continuing the strong performance of the previous month. The preliminary January sales figure of $2,252 million eclipsed the $1,771 million performance of January 2001 by a whopping 27.2 percent. This bookstore gain was particularly impressive when compared with the insignificant sales increase for overall retail in January. Overall retail sales of $266 billion for the month were just three percent more than the $258 billion in sales recorded in January 2001.

A substantial majority of independent bookstores participating in the Book Sense national marketing program saw sales increases in 2001 over 2000, according to a recent ABA survey. Among those stores in the Book Sense program responding to the survey, 63 percent reported sales increases for the year. Over half of the stores noted increases of more than five percent. For the 2001 holiday season, 66 percent of the bookstores reported increases over a strong 2000 holiday season.

Bucking an uncertain economy, bookstore sales for December closed out the year 2001 on a strong note. Preliminary December sales of $2,291 million were 9.6 percent ahead of the $2,090 million sales for December of 2000.

Bookstore sales continued to outperform overall retail. Preliminary overall retail sales of $339 billion amounted to a slim 3.0 percent gain for December over the $329 billion in sales recorded the previous December.