March Bookstore Sales Even With Last Year
Retail sales at bookstores this past March matched the performance of March 2004. Although not a strong performance, March sales put an end to the decline of recent months. Preliminary March 2005 figures recently released by Bureau of the Census, Current Retail Trade Branch estimate retail sales at bookstores at $1,036 million, the same as last March.
Overall retail sales remain strong and continue to outperform bookstore sales. Overall retail sales of $346 billion for March 2005 were 7.5 percent ahead of the $322 billion reported in March 2004.