Bookstore sales rose 1.5% in May, to $1.05 billion, according to preliminary estimates released Thursday morning by the U.S. Census Bureau. The gain comes after a 1.8% increase in April with both months benefitting from going-out-of business sales from stores that Borders closed in the period. And it is worth noting that sales reflect revenue from all items sold at outlets that generate at least half of their sales from books so while book sales might be soft, sales from other products could be offsetting those declines. With gains in recent months, bookstore sales for the first five months of 2011 rose 0.5%, to $6.03 billion.
For the entire retail market, May sales were up 7.8% and sales through the first five months increased 8.0%.
