Costco plans to stop selling books at most of its U.S. stores beginning in January, according to Fox Business. The move comes despite improved U.S. book sales reported by Statista. Data shows book sales have consistently surpassed 700 million per year, reaching 767 million units last year.
Costco executives said the change was made because stocking books on tables is labor-intensive and must be done by hand rather than by forklift like other products, The New York Times reported.
In January, Costco will remove the store’s popular book section from the majority of its 600-plus stores in the United States, reversing earlier plans to keep the section, Fox said. However, books will remain in around 100 Costco stores across the country all year, Publisher’s Weekly reported this week.
The Times said Costco will only return books during the holiday season, from September to December, and at other intermittent these. If book sales continue to do well, Costco could bring literary sections back to more stores, according to Publishers Weekly magazine, or if sales lag, books could become seasonal if sales lag.
The decision comes as more consumers are buying books through online outlets like Amazon.
The announcement coincides with singer-songwriter Taylor Swift’s Eras book tour being promoted exclusively at Target, starting on Black Friday
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is her ongoing sixth concert tour, set to conclude December 8, 2024 in Vancouver. The concert series is making a broad cultural and socioeconomic impact across the globe, according to Wikipedia. It is the highest grossing tour of all time and the first-ever tour to surpass U.S. $1 billion in revenue.
