Bookstore Sales Down 6% in November

November bookstore sales fell 6%, to $699 million, compared to November 2016, according to preliminary estimates from the Census Bureau. This marks the fifth consecutive down month, after a four-month streak in which bookstore sales rose every month. For the first 11 months of 2017, bookstore sales were $9.5 billion, down 3.1% compared to the same period in 2016.

Total retail sales in November rose 6.6%, to $500.2 billion. For the year to date, total retail sales have risen 4.2%, to $5,192 billion.

The Census Bureau figures, which include a range of stores that sell books, differ significantly from results at indie bookstores. Earlier this month, the American Booksellers Association noted that "overall book sales across indie bookstores for 2017 increased 2.6% over 2016, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.4% over the past five years. In addition, the number of books sold in the indie channel during the week leading up to Christmas was the highest since NPD/BookScan began collecting that type of data."

Census Bureau figures parallel Barnes & Noble, whose sales fell 6.4% during the nine-week period ended December 30.

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