Bookstore sales jumped 7.5% in November over November 2014, according to preliminary estimates released Friday morning by the U.S. Census Bureau. Sales were $757 million this past November compared to $704 million a year ago.
The November increase was the biggest gain in 2015 compared to the same month in 2014 and continued a trend of strong fall bookstore sales. With one month to go in 2015 total bookstore sales were up 1.8% over the January to November period in 2014, hitting $9.75 billion.
For the entire retail segment, November sales rose 1.6% and sales for the first 11 months of the year were up 2.1%.
