Book sales fell 5% at Hastings Entertainment for the year ended January 31, dropping to about $109 million. According to its 10-k filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, although books constituted the same percentage of total revenue in the year as in 2010, 22%, company sales fell to $496 million from $521 million. The book revenue figure includes sales of the Nextbook Premium 7 e-reader tablet and related accessories, which Hastings began selling in the year, as well as e-books, which the store also added in the year. With sales of new and used print books falling in the year, book comps were down 5.7% for 2011 excluding the Nextbook sales, with Hastings noting that “new book sales were negatively impacted by the increasing popularity of e-readers.”
Hastings’s poorest performing business was rental and the company said it plans to redesign 55 of its 138 stores in the year to reduce the rental footprint. Sales of used items overall were solid in the year, accounting for 15.7% of sales, up from 14.5% in 2010. Earlier this year, Hastings reported a loss of $17.6 million. Hastings has no plans to open new stores this year, although it said it may open more in 2013; it has closed two outlets and will shut one more this year.
