The strong sales pace of My Life was not enough to offset the record sales performance last June of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and, as a result, bookstore sales fell 2.9% in the month, to $1.19 billion. Sales for the entire retail segment were up 8.3%.

For the first half of the year, bookstore sales managed to post a 1.4% increase over the comparable period in 2003, hitting $7.66 billion. Sales for all of retail were up 8.5% in the six-month period.