Bookstore sales fell 5.1% to $707 million in July, according to a Publishers Weekly report based on data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Sales were at $745 million in July 2013.
The decline was somewhat less than in most months of the year, and sales through July 2014 were down 7.6% from the comparable period in 2013. Sales for the first seven months of 2014 were $5.80 billion.
For the entire retail segment, July sales were up 4.9%. Sales on the year-to-date period were up 3.8%.
