January bookstore sales fell 8.4%, to $1.305 billion, compared to January 2017, according to preliminary estimates from the Census Bureau. This marked the seventh down month going back to last summer after a four-month streak in which bookstore sales rose every month. Last year, bookstore sales were down 3.7% compared to 2016.
Independent bookstore sales, however, continued to do much better than overall bookstore sales. Bookselling This Week wrote yesterday, "The independent bookstore channel ended 2017 with a 2.6% increase over 2016. As of March 6, the year-to-date sales for independent bookstores, as reported to the weekly Indie Bestseller Lists, were up more than 4% over 2017."
Total retail sales in January rose 5.3%, to $445.6 billion.
Note: under Census Bureau definitions, the bookstore category consists of "establishments primarily engaged in retailing new books."