Books-A-Million reported sales for the nine-week period ending January 3 of $127.5 million, down 2.5 percent from a year ago, and a decline of 5.6 percent on a comparable-store basis. Which actually makes them the top performer among the three biggest book chains. CEO Sandra Cochran says, “Given the challenging retail environment, we were pleased that we could record an improvement in the sales trend we saw during the third quarter. Holiday sales came later than ever this year, reflecting a cautious and price-sensitive consumer. The success of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series was the big story in books this season. […]
Booksellers
Barnes & Noble Holiday Comps Down Only 7.7 Percent
Sales for the nine-week holiday period ending January 3 declined 7.7 percent on a same-store basis at Barnes & Noble, and fell 5.2 percent overall compared to a year ago. With store sales of $1.1 billion, BN says they “experienced diminished traffic, and as a result, diminished sales, due to the unprecedented fall-off of retail shopping during the last quarter of the year.” Like Borders, they say holiday sales improved towards the end: “After a slow start to the holiday season, our store performance improved and we were able to post comparable store sales increases during the last two weeks […]
Sales Down at Waterstone's–And Getting Worse
HMV reported sales for the first six months of their fiscal year (ending October 25), showing revenue of 235.1 million pounds at their Waterstone’s unit declined 3.8 percent overall, and 3.1 percent on a same-store sales basis. The company notes that without the impact of last year’s release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, same-store sales declined just 1.4 percent. The bookseller showed an operating loss of 9.3 million pounds for the period, 4.5 percent more than last year’s loss of 8.9 million pounds. The company says increases in costs included 1.5 million pounds towards their supply chain overhaul. […]
Borders Comps Plunge; Pershing May Lend More
Borders has confirmed the obvious: “management is no longer contemplating a transaction” to sell the entire company.” But it is “in discussions with Pershing Square regarding an alternative financing transaction,” and still has the right to sell the Paperchase chain to Pershing Square for $65 million. Same-store sales for the third quarter suffered more at Borders than at the other big chains, falling 12.8 percent at their superstores, which had $548.4 million sales, with Waldenbooks comps falling less, by 7.7 percent, for sales of $91.5 million in total. Their web site sales were $11.9 million, “which is below management expectations […]
Books-A-Million Comp: Minus 9.9 Percent
Announcing third quarter results, Books-a-Million said that sales of $111 million were down 5.7 percent overall, and down 9.9 percent on a same-store sales basis. Their net loss was $2.2 million, compared to a loss of $555,000 a year ago. CEO Sandra Cochran says: “We faced dramatic macroeconomic headwinds, and as a result we experienced our weakest comparable store sales in many years. The negative trends were broadly felt across most categories although bargain books, gifts and teen provided positive results. Our entire team remains focused on adjusting to this difficult environment by controlling costs, managing inventory and preparing for […]
BN: Even Worse Than Expected
Barnes & Noble reported sales of $1.1 billion for their third quarter, and a net loss of $18.4 million. Same-store BN store sales of $971 million were down a big 7.4 percent (and fell 4.4 percent overall), while sales at the online unit rose 2 percent, to $109 million. The loss includes a special after-tax impairment charge of $7 million “to reduce the asset carrying value of certain store locations.” The results are below the company’s previous guidance and analysts’ diminished expectations–the operating loss of .21 a share compares to analysts’ prediction of .16 share. BN reduced their fourth quarter […]