November bookstore sales jumped 10%, to $729 million, compared to November 2017, according to preliminary estimates from the Census Bureau. (Data for November was delayed because of the federal government shutdown in December and January.)
For the year to date, bookstore sales are up 0.8%, to $9.058 billion, compared to the first 11 months of 2017. Many months in 2018 had strong gains, including February, March, June, July, October and November. The slight gain for 2018 so far is largely attributable to January results, when bookstore sales fell 8.6%.
Total retail sales in November rose 4.9%, to $524.5 billion. For the year to date, total retail sales have risen 5.4%, to $5,467 billion.
Note: under Census Bureau definitions, the bookstore category consists of "establishments primarily engaged in retailing new books."