"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. Further, the American Booksellers Association's ABACUS benchmarking survey showed an increase in overall indie bookstore profitability."
--Bookselling This Week yesterday in a report on holiday sales at indie bookstores