August bookstore sales dipped 1%, to $1.32 billion, compared to August 2017, according to preliminary estimates from the Census Bureau.
For the year to date, bookstore sales were $6.678 billion, down 0.6% compared to the first eight months of 2017. Despite many months this year with strong gains, including February, March, June and July, the slight loss for 2018 so far is largely attributable to January results, when bookstore sales fell 8.6%.
Total retail sales in August rose 6.7%, to $525.3 billion. For the year to date, total retail sales have risen 5.7%, to $3,954 billion.
Note: under Census Bureau definitions, the bookstore category consists of "establishments primarily engaged in retailing new books."