May Bookstore Sales Disappointing
Sluggish bookstore sales in May, coming in the wake of flat sales in April, were disappointing -- especially when contrasted with the healthy performance of overall retail for the same period. May 2004 bookstore sales of $1,095 million lagged 4.2 percent behind the $1,143 million of May 2003.
By comparison, overall retail sales of $346 billion for May 2004 was 6.8 percent better than the $324 billion for May of 2003.
2003-2004 RETAIL SALES for BOOKSTORES (unadjusted)