April Bookstore Sales Fall
After a flat performance in March, April retail sales at bookstores were down five percent from the same period last year. Preliminary April 2005 bookstore sales were $938 million, compared to $987 million in April 2004. For the first quarter of 2005, retail sales at bookstores were 3.7 percent below 2004 figures.
Overall retail sales continue to outperform bookstore sales. Overall retail sales of $343 billion for April 2005 were 7.5 percent ahead of the $319 billion reported in April of 2004.
On Tuesday, June 14, BookExpo America (BEA) released its final report on attendance at this year's show, which was held from June 2 - 5 at New York City's Jacob Javits Convention Center. Industry professionals registered for the show numbered 34,966, and 27, 421 attendees were verified with scanners at the show entrances, according to the BEA report. Of those in attendance 7,701 were estimated to be book buyers.