The Return of the Book?

You may have noticed that I linked to a post on Electric Lit a few days back that highlighted brick-and-mortar book sales are up $280 million since last year, asking a very intriguing question – “Are these the Early Days of the Bookstore Boom?”

Then yesterday, the earth-shattering news that Barnes and Noble “had another not-so-bad quarter“.  Book sales at B&N declined JUST 1.8% vs. same-period last year, but sales of toys and games (read: adult coloring books and vinyl) helped fill the gap, up 12.8% vs. last year.

And if that doesn’t get you going, check out these other facts from the NYT post…

E-books vs. Paperbacks

• E-book sales in the country fell 12.3 percent.

• Paperback book sales grew 12.4 percent.

Bookstore sales

Over all, bookstore sales rose 2.5 percent last year, to $11.17 billion, from $10.89 billion in 2014, according to the Census Bureau. It is the first time that bookstore sales have grown since 2007.

Independent Book Stores

In 2010, there were 1,410 independent bookstores in 1,660 locations;

In 2015, there were 1,712 indie stores in 2,227 locations.

Pretty great news huh?  Just on 3 years ago, Dave at LSOS was asking some big questions HERE about B&N and the future of the publishing industry.  Today the wind seems to be enough at LSOS’ back that they’re expanding into the space next door.  (see photo above)

Certainly, nothing is certain in the publishing industry today.  But it’s still a great bit of news for those of us that reserve a special place in our hearts for the local bookstore.

LSOS photo courtesy of Daren