October bookstore sales jumped 7.7%, to $699 million, compared to October 2017, according to preliminary estimates from the Census Bureau.
For the year to date, bookstore sales were $8.327 billion, exactly the same as sales in the first 10 months of 2017. Despite many months this year with strong gains, including February, March, June, July and now October, the flat result for 2018 so far is largely attributable to January results, when bookstore sales fell 8.6%.
Total retail sales in October rose 6.1%, to $506.9 billion. For the year to date, total retail sales have risen 5.4%, to $4,942 billion.
Note: under Census Bureau definitions, the bookstore category consists of "establishments primarily engaged in retailing new books."