As the retail analysts tussled over whether this year's holiday sales would be robust or merely routine, shoppers nationwide headed off to superstores, malls, main streets, and shopping centers, giving the shopping season a very positive start. Overall, retail sales for Black Friday were estimated at $7.4 billion, a 12.3 percent jump over 2001, according to ShopperTrak RCT.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) reported that 75.6 percent of consumers were out shopping on Black Friday weekend. NRF noted that its survey showed that 41 percent of consumers said their top gift purchases included books, CDs, DVDs, videos or video games. While the kickoff in shopping was strong, many analysts cautioned that a number of factors -- including concerns about the economy, a possible war with Iraq, and the weather -- could make for a somber season. However, NRF noted that it continues to project an increase of four percent in holiday retail sales.

This week BTW contacted a number of booksellers nationwide to discover how the holiday season was progressing. Their reports were generally upbeat, and they cited holiday marketing plans, notable author events, knowledgeable handselling, and the Book Sense program as key factors in stimulating sales. Here's what some had to say.

Overall, West Coast-based booksellers who spoke to BTW reported that they experienced strong Thanksgiving weekend sales and almost all said November sales were positive.

"Sales for us have been really good for the whole year," noted Adrian Newell, manager of Warwick's in La Jolla, California. "The first week of November was flat, and then the week before Thanksgiving it really picked up…. The past weekend it has been really busy…. Cookbooks have been doing really well, significantly better than in the past."

Over 1,000 miles north in Bellingham, Washington, Dee Robinson, co-owner of Village Books, reported that her store was two to three points up for the month of November over last year. "Post-Thanksgiving, we had excellent sales," she said. "Friday we were up 15 percent [over last year], and Saturday we were up 30 percent." She noted that the Saturday before Christmas, or the 23rd of December, is her biggest sales day.

Doug Dutton, owner of Dutton's Brentwood Books in Los Angeles, noted, "There's a myth surrounding [Thanksgiving] weekend, but I think it's more of a mall phenomenon. However, Friday was surprisingly strong, and we found ourselves understaffed that day." Some of the past weekend's top sellers were You Shall Know My Velocity (McSweeney's Books) by Dave Eggars and Alice McDermott's new novel, Child of My Heart (FSG), he reported.

While snow fell on many places on the East Coast before and after Thanksgiving, Anchorage, Alaska, had what only can be defined as a heat wave: Over the holiday weekend, the temperature reached 50 degrees, and, instead of the usual snow, they had rain, reported Lynn Dixon, owner of Cook Inlet Book Company. The warm weather resulted in more shoppers and better sales. "No snow! It's making a difference," she said. "Thanksgiving weekend was wonderful. We had a benefit signing on Saturday for the local food bank and homeless shelter, with six authors, and throngs of people showed for that. Friday was good -- better than last year." Dixon noted that regional books were the hottest sellers, as was Alaskan author Velma Wallis' Raising Ourselves (Epicenter Press).

Almost 90 miles south of Seattle, in the small town of Chehalis, Washington, Book 'n Brush, a bookstore that also sells art supplies, is having a good holiday season thus far. Sales in November were up two to three percent compared to last year, according to owner Darlene Held. A member of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association (PNBA), she had 15,000 of the PNBA holiday catalog printed, and it's helping to spur sales. "People watch for that," she said. "That helps [our sales] immensely, and people look forward to it." One item featured in the catalog, Betty Crocker's Cooky Book (Wiley), has been one of the season's bestselling titles, she said.

At Rainy Day Books in Fairway, Kansas, co-owner Vivien Jennings, told BTW that a number of major author events in October and November had served as a "springboard to other book sales opportunities" for the store. The events -- whose authors included Al and Tipper Gore, Peter Jennings, and Billy Collins -- are held off site, but the tickets must be picked up at the store, which, Jennings said, "started the traffic early and started the shopping early…. We really saw the impact."

Jennings and her colleagues use every opportunity to show customers that "personal service is what we do." The goal, she said, "is to build a relationship [with the customer]" through knowledgeable customer service and an inventory selection that highlights noteworthy "below-the-radar titles," she said. A good example of such a title, Jennings said, is Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad That Crossed an Ocean by Les Standiford (Crown). Book Sense plays a key role in this marketing and merchandising effort. Jennings said that Rainy Day Books' customers look forward to receiving the Book Sense 76 fliers, and that the Book Sense message is effective. "They know that we know books…. And that it's not just what we [in the store] say, but also booksellers across the country."

At Tatnuck Bookseller and Sons in Worcester, Massachusetts, Larry Abramoff has had sales and store traffic curtailed by several large snowstorms. "On Friday [November 29], our sale was going great guns until it snowed late. We do a big gift certificate sale on the Friday after Thanksgiving -- from 6:00 p.m. to midnight we offer 20 percent off all store gift certificates, which can't be used until after December 25. Once it started snowing, sales were flat."

Abramoff reported that sales are up about four percent for the year, which he attributed to careful planning and strengthening margins. "Sales were pretty good as long as we had specific promotions," he said. "The minute we stop promoting, things go down. We are going into a staff meeting now to dream up something."

Roberta Blanchard, owner of the Fairy Godmother children's bookstore in Washington, D.C., reported that "the day after Thanksgiving was a very slow day." Weekend sales improved, but Blanchard said, "My gut sense is that people aren't going to spend a lot in general because they're too worried about too many things. Our sales are almost identical to last year's." The past two years have not been easy ones for businesses in the nation's capitol. Blanchard, who has owned the store for 18 years, noted a number of factors -- the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon, the anthrax incidents, sniper killings around the area, and the more commonplace woes such as parking, construction, corporate scandals, and a lame duck congress decreasing interest in legislative activity at the year's end. "People don't feel really happy," Blanchard said, "but people do continue to buy books for children."

Blanchard's store puts a premium on individual service. She likes to find out about a child's or teen's interests rather than promoting certain popular books. "We don't carry mass market books. We often suggest something different based on the child." A recent visit from Robert Sabuda, whose intricate pop-up books include The 12 Days of Christmas, The Night Before Christmas, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (all from Little Simon), drew a crowd of fans. Blanchard's experience recommending books to adults for children, is to stick with nonfiction when possible. "Rather than trying to guess what kind of story a child might like, you can tie the book to a special interest -- such as animals or sports." Blanchard also noted the sale of audiotapes before the holiday weekend "to keep children entertained while traveling."

In Vineland, New Jersey, between Philadelphia and Atlantic City, Booksmith owner Jerry Dooley talked to BTW about the season so far, "It was okay -- flat with last year. But compared with some of the other businesses in the area, I'm feeling pretty happy. Retailers are reporting losses of eight, 10, 12 points. We're still up for the year, but the percentage increases have been getting smaller and smaller." Dooley said that the Friday after Thanksgiving "was a strong day -- sales matched last year within $100."

Booksmith, in the Cumberland Mall with about 70 stores, has been around for 28 years, Dooley said. "We sell mostly mass market paperbacks and romances. But we rely on the Book Sense 76 to pick out the unexpected for the store. People appreciate that someone here can talk about books." He noted, too that "we've been selling tons of Book Sense gift certificates. Each year it gets bigger. I like how it makes the independents seem like a coherent force. I can show them all these places where it can be used."

Jenny Lawton, who has owned Just Books in Greenwich, Connecticut, for barely a year, pronounced the Thanksgiving weekend slow. "Greenwich goes away for Thanksgiving," she said of the well-heeled town just an hour's commute to New York City. "There were traffic jams on Sunday night as people returned. Some people did some shopping on Wednesday before Thanksgiving, but, with the snow, people just left early." Just Books, which opened a second store in June a few miles away in Old Greenwich, occupies 600 square feet on a street of shops and boutiques. Most customers phone in orders and pick the books up at the store. Browsing is nearly impossible.

The new store, Lawton said, "Is much more of a walk-in type store," adding that "I have a lot of big orders here and a number of pick ups." Calculating the final totals for the weekend will include these orders not yet filled. Some of the popular gift books are synchronous with the tastes of the community -- The Art of the Sports Car (Dennis Adler and Jay Leno, HarperCollins) and Barefoot Contessa Family Style (Ina Garten, Clarkson Potter). At the Old Greenwich store, tastes ran more to biographies and hardcover fiction -- Memoirs by David Rockefeller (Random House) and Benjamin Franklin by Edmund S. Morgan (Yale University Press).

"We have sold a lot of New York, New York at $275 (by Richard Berenholtz, Rizzoli). I ordered four and sold 20," said Lawton. On November 12, Just Books managed to usher 688 people through the store to have former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani autograph his autobiography (Leadership, Miramax). "People formed a conga line, they came in the front door and out the back," said Lawton.

Dick Hermans, owner of Oblong Books and Music in Millerton and Rhinebeck, New York, was pleased with sales at both stores. "Sales were really strong …. Overall, with the two stores combined, we were 20 percent up over last year," he said. At the Millerton store, "books and educational toys were top sellers but no books stood out. The Rhinebeck store is not a store that relies on bestsellers, so sales were across the board."

Hermans did cite one title -- Michael Moore's Stupid White Men (Regan). "We did well with the that book because the independent movie theater across the street has been playing his movie Bowling for Columbine."

Millerton, two hours north of New York City, is far from any malls. "There's no Barnes & Noble for 45 miles," said Hermans. "We have maintained that if the community wants to have a good bookstore you just have to support it." Although a part of the customer base is fairly affluent, according to Hermans, "people were clearly not spending money easily this past summer."

Business was also good at Locust Books in Westminster, Maryland. Owner Tim Bryson told BTW that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday all saw strong sales, but that more encouraging was the increased business on the five or six business days leading up to Thanksgiving. "We're doing significantly better than last year although there was a lull after the weekend." After 23 years as owner of the general bookstore, Bryson hasn't noticed anything particularly outstanding yet this season. "But, anyday now there could be handful of titles that surprise us," he noted.

He has sensed good spirits and some extravagant purchases, such as Elizabeth Taylor's My Love Affair with Jewelry (S&S). Locust Books has a 10 percent discount off everything in stock, year round. Through the holiday season the discount is raised to 20 percent on all books in stock. "We instituted that policy in 1995," said Bryson, "because there are so many other ways to buy books. We needed to do more than occasional sales. We believe it's worked building our customer base and keeping them. It gives them a reason to spend a significant portion of their book expenditures with us."

Another strategy for Bryson is the Book Sense program. "We have a year-round display of the Book Sense titles. That has encouraged us to be more active in identifying high quality new books, particularly hardcover fiction. As a result of the program, we have found many books we get excited about and more and more our customers are coming to us for recommendations," he said.

In the south, The Alabama Booksmith in Homewood, Alabama, is looking to boost holiday sales by offering customers a private shopping experience. On Monday, December 2, the store sent an e-mail to its customers that said, in part, "Wanna get the perfect gift when you feel like looking? Hate the crowds and traffic? Wouldn't it be great to have a whole store to yourself with an expert assistant available when you snap your fingers? Well, listen to this deal: We'll open early or stay late just for you. Give us a day's notice and we'll come in a few hours early so you can stop by after taking the kids to school or let us know and the store is yours if you'd like to run in after work."

By the next day, the store had received about 20 to 30 very positive responses to the offer from as far away as New York and France. Jake Reiss, owner of the Alabama Booksmith, said as of yet no one had requested an opportunity to shop privately, but the offer had definitely raised the store's profile. He attributed at least half of the next days' sales to the announcement.

Reiss described business during the past year as having been "incredible." He continued, "We have had an increase every year since we opened…. We made our year in mid-November. Everything else is gravy."

The store depends heavily on author signings and special events to generate business, because, according to Reiss, no one just pops into the store, which is located on a dead-end street. Among those signing books at the store this year were Pat Conroy, Fannie Flagg, and George Plimpton.

Though the store doesn't experience a huge increase in sales for the holidays, sales figures are usually better than average. To draw people into the store the Alabama Booksmith uses a marquee off the highway to announce the availability of signed copies. The biggest seller for Reiss this year was Pat Conroy's My Losing Season (Doubleday) -- Reiss claims to be the "largest seller of Pat Conroy books in the nation."

The second biggest seller at Alabama Booksmith is an historical novel set in the Carolinas -- Speaks the Nightbird by Robert R. McCammon (River City Publishing), author of Boy's Life.

In addition to author signings, the store fosters sales through its relationship with 30 book clubs. The store itself has a 55-member book group that is currently reading Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky (Penguin).

Nancy Tebeau of Not Just for Kids Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina, explained that the usual sales increase in September and October, heading towards the holidays, was slower than usual this year, but she said, "The day after Thanksgiving was the best Black Friday that we've ever had." Tebeau speculates that consumers saw stores lower prices last year as the holidays approached, and that they may have put off shopping to wait for sales again this year. "We may have created a monster," she said.

Tebeau said that the store was doing well with holiday-oriented titles, including Jan Brett's Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve (Putnam), The Christmas Train by David Baldacci (Warner Books), and Christmas Tapestry by Patricia Polacco (Philomel Books). In addition, Tebeau noted that the Angelina Ballerina titles (Pleasant Company) were "a lot bigger than in the past."

Valerie Koehler, owner of Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, Texas, characterized sales as up slightly from last, but, she said, "We wish they were higher…. Sales for a couple of years were phenomenal, but I guess we've hit a plateau."

Titles featured in the store's Book Sense Bestseller List display "tend to do well," said Koehler, and "the titles that we like, such as Peace Like a River (Leif Enger, Grove), are the easiest things to sell."

Holiday children's books are selling well at Blue Willow including The Night Before Christmas, a pop-up book by Robert Sabuda (Little Simon), as well as "traditional Nativity stories, which appeal to grandparents," Koehler noted. The store is also experiencing an increase in sales for young adult titles, such as Summerland by Michael Chabon (Miramax) and Coraline by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins).

Among the adult titles with good holiday sales at Blue Willow were Longitudes and Attitudes by Thomas L. Friedman (FSG) and Prey by Michael Crichton (HarperCollins).

In an effort to increase holiday sales, the store is throwing a party for its best customers and presenting them with a gift of a tote bag carrying the store's logo. The hope, Koehler said, is that customers will fill the bags with book purchases.

In New Orleans at the Garden District Book Shop, "sales have been spotty this fall, and the year on the whole has been down," said store owner Britton Trice. This he attributes, in part, to the lingering effects of September 11, which has reduced tourism in the Big Easy and elsewhere. The store's sales usually pick up after the Thanksgiving weekend, which Trice characterized as a "mall shopping" event. He is optimistic about December sales that he sees spanning a spectrum of titles. "There is no one 'big' book" driving holiday sales, Trice noted.

Among those titles selling well at Garden District are books with regional subjects such as The Mississippi and the Making of a Nation: From the Louisiana Purchase to Today by Stephen E. Ambrose and Douglas G. Brinkley (National Geographic) and My Losing Season by Pat Conroy (Doubleday). The store has also been selling The Lives of the Muses: Nine Women & the Artists They Inspired by Francine Prose (HarperCollins) and "a lot of signed copies of titles by Anthony Bourdain."

Trice said children's titles selling well for the holidays included Kay Thompson's Eloise Takes a Bawth (S&S) and Chris Van Allsburg's Zathura (Houghton Mifflin). -- Reported by Dan Cullen [5], David Grogan [5], Rosemary Hawkins [5], and Nomi Schwartz [5]