Comparable store book sales at Hastings Entertainment fell 1.2% for the first quarter ended April 30, the retailer reported this morning. Hastings attributed the decline to lower sales of new trade paperbacks and hardcovers and difficult comparisons to last year's first period when sales of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga were still very strong. Excluding Meyer's titles, book comps would have been up 3.2%. Percy Jackson, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and several cookbooks all sold well in the quarter as did used books.
Sales for the entire store rose 2.7% in the quarter, to $129.1 million, with comparable store sales up 4.9%. Net income fell to $1.0 million from $1.7 million which the company said was due to lower margins on rental items as several of Hastings’s stores were competing with going out of business sales. CEO John Marmaduke said in a statement that “consumer spending has increased and we are cautiously optimistic about future revenue growth as the economy improves.”
