Courtesy of Publishers Weekly…

The addition of over 40 new stores in last year’s fourth quarter resulted in a 14.9% increase in sales at Books-A-Million for the second quarter ended July 28, with revenue hitting $120.4 million in the period. Comparable store sales, however, increased at a much more modest rate of 0.5%. Still, BAM cut its loss from continuing operations in the quarter to $881,000 from $2.9 million in last year’s second quarter.

In addition to more stores, BAM attributed the increase in sales to Fifty Shades of Grey along with solid performances in the kids, teen, and general merchandise categories. President Terry Finley said BAM’s core book business rose more than expected as interest in Fifty Shades brought more people into the stores who were interested in a range of books similar to E.L. James’ trilogy. The teen category continued to benefit from The Hunger Games, while sales of conservative books gave a lift to nonfiction. Chairman Clyde Anderson said BAM continued to sell lots of Nooks in the quarter and the number of e-book downloads increased. Finley noted, however, that while the erosion of print sales to digital slowed again in the quarter, it still has had an impact in certain areas, particularly mass market paperback where sales were down in all genres.

You can read the article in its entirety on the Publishers Weekly website: New Stores Boost Books-A-Million

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