Barnes & Noble sold a total of 2.1 million copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in the second quarter ended August 4, leading to a sales gain of 7.6% in the period, to $1.24 billion. Sales through its traditional stores, which sold 1.7 million copies of Hallows, rose 7.3%, to $1.1 billion, while sales through Barnes & Noble.com increased to $97.5 million, an increase of 17.9% on a comparable-store basis. Excluding Hallows, comp-store sales at B&N stores rose 1.0% and increased 7.3% online. In addition to Hallows, other titles that did well included The Reagan Diaries, The Assault on Reason, The Dangerous Book for Boys and A Thousand Splendid Suns.
Net income in the quarter rose to $18.0 million, up from $16.6 million, helped by a one-time tax benefit and lower than expected costs associated with the opening of the company’s new warehouse.
Based on current trends, B&N CEO Steve Riggio said, the retailer “remains comfortable” with its full-year sales forecast, which calls for comp sales at its stores to be flat to a low single digit increase in the third quarter, and full-year comp sales to be flat to slightly positive. For the first half of the year, B&N reported a 5.2% sales increase, to $2.39 billion, while earnings fell 38.3%, to $16.4 billion.
