Bookstore sales continued to do better than expected, at least as measured by the U.S. Census Bureau. According to preliminary estimates, sales in September rose 7%, to $1.55 billion and were up 2.8% for the first nine months of 2011. Revenue includes all sales made at stores where at least 50% of its sales come from books and also reflects the final going-out-of business sales at Borders.
For the entire retail segment, September sales rose 8.5%, and were up 8.1% in the first nine months of the year.
