Books-A-Million’s sales during the holiday season came in a bit better than those of Barnes & Noble. The country’s second largest bookstore chain reported that total sales for the nine week period ended January 3, 2015 were $129.2 million, an increase of 1.1% over the same period a year ago.
Comparable store sales rose 1.2%, but excluding sales of e-reader devices comp sales were up 1.7% in the nine week period compared to the holiday season last year. B&N’s total sales rose 0.2% and comps, excluding Nook, were up 1.7%, but were down 0.6% including sales of Nook products.
BAM CEO Terry Finley said the gains were due to “strengthening sales in our largest and most significant business categories of full priced books, gifts, and café. Our gift department was particularly strong due to Disney’s Frozen licensed product. We also delivered double digit sales increases in online sales.”
