Finally! Good Bookstore News!

For the first time this year, bookstore sales rose in June by 3.4% compared to June 2008, to $1.10 billion, according to early predictions from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Although bookstore sales for the first six months of 2009 were down 2.7% compared to the first half of 2008 with sales falling to $7.41 billion, the book segment has outperformed the retail market in general. Sales for the entire retail sector fell 7.6% in June and 9.8% for the first six months of the year.

Sales are from stores that generate at least half of their revenue from books and include college bookstores.