Total sales from the nation's four largest bookstore chains rose approximately 8.6% to $6.17 billion for the fiscal year ended January 31, 1999. The growth was the slowest in six years, and compared to a 14.3% gain posted in fiscal 1998. Since the mid-1990s, when the superstore rollout was at its peak, the top chains -- Barnes &Noble, Borders Group, Books-A-Million and Crown Books -- have posted overall annual sales increases in the 16%-18% range.
In the most recent year, only Borders was able to produce a double-digit sales gain, with total revenues up 14.5% to $2.59 billion. The chain's growth was due entirely to its superstore operations, where sales rose 23.7% to $1.56 billion.
B&N's sales gain of 7.4% was its smallest increase since the early '90s and reflected a slowdown in its store-opening program. B&N finished fiscal 1999 with 521 superstores, a net gain of 38; the number of B. Dalton outlets fell to 484 from 528. While revenues from Barnesandnoble.com skyrocketed 381%, to $70 million, last year, those sales did not match the volume gains B&N enjoyed during the height of its superstore rollout, when the company was opening 90 new stores annually.
Books-A-Million's 7.1% growth rate last year was less than half that of a year ago and substantially down from the 21% increase the chain reported as recently as fiscal 1997. The company has had trouble maintaining comparable-store sales gains in recent years and in fiscal 1999 added only a net of 10 outlets, finishing the year with 175 stores.
Crown Books, which had reported only marginal sales gains the past couple of years, saw its revenues fall 33.9% in fiscal 1999 to an estimated $225 million.
Despite the relatively slow growth posted by the chains, their 8.6% increase far surpassed the 2.6% gain reported by the entire retail bookstore sector. the market share of the chains increased from roughly 45% in fiscal 1998 to 47% in fiscal 1999.
