Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Book sales see big jump in 2020
Pandemic has shoppers picking up more than just essential groceries
If you want to sell books during a pandemic, it turns out that one of the best places to do it is within easy reach of eggs, milk and diapers.
When the coronavirus forced the United States into lockdown this spring, stores like Walmart and Target, which were labeled essential, remained open. So when anxious consumers were stocking up on beans and pasta, they were also grabbing workbooks, paperbacks and novels — and the book sales at those stores shot up.
“They sell groceries, they sell toilet paper, they sell everything people need during this time, and they’re open,” said Suzanne Herz, publisher of Vintage/ Anchor. “If you’re in there and you’re doing your big shop and you walk down the aisle and go, ‘Oh, we’re bored, and we need a book or a puzzle,’ there it is.”
Big-box stores do not generally break out how much they sell of particular products, but people across the publishing industry say that sales increased at these stores significantly, with perhaps the greatest bump at Target. In some cases there, according to publishing executives, book sales tripled or quadrupled.
Dennis Abboud is the chief executive of ReaderLink, a book distributor that serves more than 80,000 retail stores, including big-box and pharmacy chains. He said that in the first week of April, his company’s sales were 34% higher than the same period the year before.
“With the shelter in place, people were looking for things to do,” he said. “Workbooks, activity books and just general reading material saw a big increase.”
Some grocery chains and pharmacies saw an increase, too, even though books are far from the core of what they offer.
A spokesman for Rite Aid said that since the beginning of March, the company has seen an increase in book sales generally, as well as in children’s books and puzzles.
Meijer, a superstore chain based in the Midwest, also saw a “strong uptick” in book sales since the beginning of the pandemic, a spokesman said.
That company is in the process of expanding the book department in about 80 of its 253 stores, part of a plan that was in place before the pandemic. In addition to the advantage of just being open, stores like Target were able to step in when Amazon pulled back on delivering some products, like books and toys, so it could prioritize in-demand household goods and medical supplies.
Among the big-box chains, each has a somewhat different bookselling approach. Walmart offers a lot of commercial fiction, books on topics like self-help and weight loss, as well as children’s books. Much of Target’s selection is aimed at female readers. Costco sells many classics, like “The Wizard of Oz” and Jane Austen, along with children’s workbooks.
Walmart also saw its book sales jump. “COVID-19 and the government stimulus checks have increased the demand for books in a big way, particularly on the adult books side,” Leigh Stidham, a Walmart spokeswoman, said in an email. “The fiction genre is strong despite some new title releases being pushed back to later in the year. Also, educational book sales have increased significantly since day cares and schools have been shut down.”
The question for publishers is whether this bump will continue. Have buyers been reconditioned to pick up books in different places, or will they go back to their old habits when running errands feels less fraught? Abboud of ReaderLink said he expects sales to fall but not to previous levels. In the meantime, there are those who are starting to venture back out.