June 21, 2001 Bookstore Sales Continue to Outpace Overall Retail Preliminary bookstore sales of $1,106 million for April 2001 came in a respectable 8.0 percent ahead of the $1,024 million registered in April 2000. While the growth in bookstore sales in April was not as great as that of the preceding month, the percentage of increase exceeded that of overall retail. Overall retail sales, at $285 billion for April, were just 4.4 percent better than the $273 billion in sales recorded the previous April. This was the fifteenth month in a row that bookstore sales exceeded sales for the previous year. 2000-2001 RETAIL SALES for BOOKSTORES (unadjusted) Period 2000 Final (Millions of Dollars) 2001 (Millions of Dollars) % Increase 2000 over 2001 January 1,552 1,771 14.1 February 1,133 1,213 7.1 March 1,077 1,214 12.7 April 1,024 1,106 (p) 8.0 YTD 4,786 5,304 10.8 (p) Preliminary figure NOTE: Estimates reflect sales of all types of participating bookstore, including trade, college, religious, chain stores (including superstores), and others. A bookstore is defined as any retail establishment with sales comprised of more than 50 percent new books and periodicals, and estimates include sales of all products in these stores. SPECIAL NOTE: As of March 2001, the Bureau of the Census, Current Retail Trade Branch, began using the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) in place of the Standard Industrial Classification System (SIC). The Bureau of the Census has restated the SIC data for monthly sales to a NAICS basis to create an historic series beginning with January 1992 through March 2001. Source: Bureau of the Census, Current Retail Trade Branch. Topics: Industry Statistics, News - Bookselling,