According to the American Booksellers Association, for the fifth consecutive month, retail sales at bookstores exceeded last year’s results. Preliminary figures recently released by the Bureau of the Census show an increase in bookstore sales in November 2007 of 7.5 percent compared to November 2006.

More good news is that the American Booksellers Association welcomed 115 new bookstores that opened for business in 2007. This was the third year in a row that the number of bookstore openings topped one hundred.