July 26, 2001 Bookstore Sales Remain Healthy in May Preliminary bookstore sales of $1,242 million for May 2001 exceeded the $1,166 million performance of May 2000 by 6.5 percent. Though the increase in May bookstore sales was not as great as that for April, the percentage of increase did exceed that of overall retail. Overall preliminary retail sales, at $307 billion for May, were a modest 4.8 percent better than the $293 billion in sales recorded the previous May. This was the sixteenth month in a row that bookstore sales exceeded sales for the previous year. 2000-2001 RETAIL SALES for BOOKSTORES (unadjusted) 2000 Final (Millions of Dollars) 2001 (Millions of Dollars) % Increase 2001 over 2000 January 1,552 1,771 14.1 February 1,133 1,213 7.1 March 1,077 1,214 12.7 April 1,024 1,078 5.3 May 1,166 1,242 (p) 6.5 YTD 5,952 6,518 9.5 (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,