MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
Jan 9 – Jan 15, 2012 Edition Bookstore Sales Continue Decline
NEW YORK, NY/January 13, 2012–Bookstore sales experienced their deepest decline in the 2011 year. November sales fell 8.6%, to $941 million, according to preliminary estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The November drop followed a 6.6% decline in October. August and September sales were somewhat buoyed by BordersÂ’s going-out-of-business sales in August and September. College bookstore sales also boosted overall sales numbers in the late summer. With the drop in October and November, bookstore sales for the first 11 months of 2011 rose by a weak 1.2%. At the end of September sales were running 2.8% ahead of 2010.
Overall retail sales of all goods rose 7.0% in November and were up 7.9% in the year to date.
