Sales for Canadian independent Bookstore Day, April 25, were up 6% over 2025, according to Bookmanager, which released a some of its data covering both CIBD and Independent Bookstore Day in the U.S. Bookmanager added that there "is no contest that the event as a whole benefits the industry and has turned a nondescript Saturday into a boon for bookstores."
Overall sales were down 1% from last year's Independent Bookstore Day overall, but Bookmanager reported that in 2025 sales had been 44% higher for the day than in 2024 and noted it is worth considering "that we collectively held onto that amazing growth despite the many economic uncertainties we and our customers are facing, along with the rising cost of books and, well, everything (a banana now costs how much?!?)."
While Indie Bookstore Day sales overall for the U.S. and Canada increased by 125% from the previous Saturday (April 18), Bookmanager found that Canadian stores had 76% more sales than the previous Saturday, along with a 17% increase from 2024. By comparison, U.S. stores had 150% more sales than the previous Saturday, but decreased by 5% from the previous year's Indie Bookstore Day, which saw a 58% increase over 2024.
While some stores experienced a small sales gain on the day, others markedly exceeded the average. "This huge variance in data points is very likely due to some stores going full tilt on marketing, promoting, and bolstering the event with specials and actvities, while others are essentially calling it another day," Bookmanager wrote. "The biggest takeaway is that if you haven't been emailing out / posting on social media / building buzz, offering promotions or discounts, and/or offering unique activities or extras for the day, it's well worth the time and small hit on margins (which are easily made up for in volume of sales) to do so for the next year."
---
|
|
|
(Photo: ActuaLitté) |
|
The Gibert group of French booksellers was set to ask the Paris economic activities tribunal to place it in receivership on April 28, as it moves its focus to selling secondhand books. The Bookseller reported that "the chain of 16 outlets in 12 towns and cities across the country has been squeezed by the 'explosion' of fixed costs and the decline in the new book market."
The group said it seeks to double its sales of used books from €30 million (about $35 million) in 2025 to €60 million (about $70 million) in 2029; to double these books' share of total sales from 35% to 70%; and to become the leader in the field.
The Gibert group has closed nine outlets since 2017, five that year and four in the Place St. Michel in the Paris Latin Quarter in 2021, the Bookseller noted.
---
Last month, legendary New Zealand bookseller Ruth Shaw retired as owner of "her three wee bookshops" in Manapōuri, which "gained international fame and seen thousands flock to tiny Manapōuri to visit, especially after the publication of her 2022 autobiography, The Bookseller at the End of the World, and its 2025 follow-up, Three Wee Bookshops at the End of the World," the Post reported.
"I thought, it's time, it really is time," said Shaw, who is turning 80 this year.
When she started looking for someone to take over the bookshops, Shaw was adamant that if the bookshops couldn't stay in Manapōuri, she would simply close them. She found a buyer: Inger Nicholson, who came to live in Manapōuri as a child, nearly 60 years ago. As soon as Shaw made the offer, Nicholson said yes, the Post noted. Nicholson described her friend as "a little force to be reckoned with. She's been great--you want her on your team. And it's her bookshop, really. I'm just caretaking it, in a way."