Despite a drop in sales in December, bookstore sales for all of 2016 rose 2.5%, to $11.981 billion, compared to 2015, according to preliminary estimates from the Census Bureau. The annual gain marks the second year in a row bookstore sales have risen, after 2015's gain of 2.6%. Before that, bookstores sales had fallen every year since 2007, when the Great Recession began.
December bookstore sales fell 3.1%, to $1.409 billion, compared to December 2015.
Total retail sales for 2016 rose 3.3%, to $5,504 billion. In December, total retail sales rose 4.5%, to $541.8 billion.
Note: under Census Bureau definitions, the bookstore category consists of "establishments primarily engaged in retailing a general line of new books. These establishments may also sell stationery and related items, second-hand books, and magazines."