Bookstore Sales Remain Soft in December
Retail sales for bookstores for December 2002 continued the decline that started last October. December bookstore sales of $2,160 million fell 1.7 percent behind the $2,197 million of December 2001.
By contrast, overall retail sales experienced a modest increase. Overall retail sales for December of $351 billion was 4.2 percent better than the $337 billion of the previous year.
December is the 11th month in a row in which bookstore sales failed to keep up with overall retail sales.