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September Bookstore Sales Flat After Strong August
Printer-friendly versionSeptember bookstore sales were disappointing in the wake of their strong showing in August. September 2003 sales of $1,491 million also lagged 0.9 percent behind the $1,505 million performance a year ago.
September was the first month in the last four that bookstore sales failed to show improvement over the previous year.
Overall retail sales of $309 billion for September 2003 came in 8.8 percent ahead of the $284 billion in September of 2002.
|
Period
|
2002 Final (Millions of Dollars)
|
2003 (Millions of Dollars)
|
% Increase 2003 Over 2002
|
| January |
2,039
|
2,094
|
2.7
|
| February |
1,037
|
1,005
|
(3.1)
|
| March |
1,045
|
929
|
(11.1)
|
| April |
969
|
984
|
1.5
|
| May |
1,142
|
1,105
|
(3.2)
|
|
June
|
1,073
|
1,179
|
9.9
|
| July |
1,059
|
1,129
|
6.6
|
| August |
1,825
|
2,083
|
14.1
|
| September |
1,505
|
1,491 (p)
|
(0.9)
|
| YTD |
11,694
|
11,999
|
2.6
|
(p) Preliminary figure
Note: Estimates reflect sales of all types of participating bookstores, including trade, college, religious, chain stores (including superstores), and others. A bookstore is defined as any retail establishment with sales comprised of more than 50 percent new books and periodicals, and estimates include sales of all products in these stores.
Source: Bureau of the Census, Current Retail Trade Branch.