September bookstore sales dipped 0.9%, to $948 million, compared to September 2017, according to preliminary estimates from the Census Bureau.
For the year to date, bookstore sales were $7.63 billion, down 0.6% compared to the first nine 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 September rose 2.5%, to $483 billion. For the year to date, total retail sales have risen 5.3%, to $4,436 billion.
Note: under Census Bureau definitions, the bookstore category consists of "establishments primarily engaged in retailing new books."