Bookstores Statistics

Over the past few decades there has been a lot of speculation over the demise of the bookstores. As big bookstore chains fall under the weight of online retailers, e-books, and Amazon, how could small independent bookstores hope to survive?

While things aren’t great for bookstores they also aren’t quite as bad as they seem. Despite dire predictions, Americans still read quite a lot of books, shelling out billions of dollars for them every single year.

Number of bookstores

An interesting fact to note is that although from 2012 to 2017 the number of bookstores have declined by 12%, the American Booksellers Association reports that memberships in bookstores have increased by 13% in the same time.

According to the US Census as of 2020 there were around 10,800 bookstores in all, ranging from small, independent retailers to major chains within the US.
Since 2012 the number of bookstores in the US has been decreasing from 16,819 stores to 10,800 as of 2020.
Between the years 2019 and 2021 there were 2,023 independent book companies running 2,506 stores.
Lisbon is the city with the most bookstores per capita with 35.97 bookstores per 100,000 people.
Shanghai takes the lead with the most bookstores in a city housing 3,800 bookstores.

Bookstore chains statistics

US bookstore chains statistics

The biggest bookstore in the United States is Barnes & Noble with 627 locations across the country.
The bookstore chain currently sits at a revenue of $3.6B annually.
Barnes & Noble has 15,557 employees, with a revenue of $228,369 per employee.
Powell’s City of Books is the largest used and new bookstore in the world, housing approximately one million books.
Powell’s Books revenue is $45.0M as of 2021.
Powell’s Books has 500 employees, revenue per employee is $90,000.
Also known as BAM! Books-A-Million Inc., is a bookstore chain in the United States, operating 260 stores in 32 states
As of 2021 Books-A-Million revenue is $474.1M annually.
Books-A-Million has 5,400 employees, and a revenue of $87,793 per employee.

UK bookstore chains statistics

Waterstones is London’s largest bookshop, and also claims to be the biggest bookstore in Europe containing more than 200,000 titles.
As of 2021 Waterstones registered revenues at $314.05 million from the UK alone.
For the rest of the world, Waterstones recorded $4.58 million revenue.
WHSmith is one of the UK’s leading retail groups and a household name, with over 600 stores on the high street and more than 800+ travel stores at airports, train stations, hospitals, workplaces and motorway services.
WHSmith reported a revenue of approximately £1.4 billion british pounds ($1.71 billion US dollars)
Foyles (also known as W & G Foyle Ltd. ) is a bookseller with a chain of seven stores in the UK.
It has opened several more branches and online stores since 2018 and was once listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest bookshop and for the number of titles on display.

Australian bookstore chains statistics

Angus & Robertson, which has been a major player in the Australian book industry for over 100 years
In 2001, WHSmith purchased Angus & Robertson.
Angus & Robertson revenue currently sits at $30.5 Million.
Collins Booksellers is an Australian owned private company consisting of 26 franchised bookshops nationwide. All the company’s stores are privately owned, operated locally and community driven.
Collins Booksellers annual revenue varies between $5.0 and $25 million.
Dymocks Adelaide became the largest bookstore in South Australia.
Dymocks Booksellers revenue sits at $109 million.

Canadian bookstore chains statistics

As of 2021 Canada generated a total revenue of over 1.1 billion Canadian dollars ($1 billion US dollars)
Archambault and Renaud-Bray are two of the largest book retailers in Quebec.
Archambault’s revenue is $33 Million and Renaud-Bray’s revenue is $22.7 Million with an online revenue of $45.1m as of 2021.
Over 35 years Book City has operated 7 stores at various locations in Toronto.
Book City’s revenue is $9 Million.

Indian bookstore chains statistics

AH Wheeler has a long history in India with 378 bookstalls, 121 counter tables and 397 trolleys at 258 major stations around the country. AH Wheeler currently has a revenue of approximately $5 million
Crossword, with 80 stores across India, is India’s fastest growing chain of bookstores and with a revenue of $33.4 million.
D.C. Books, operates one of the largest bookstore chains in India with over 45 bookshops under the DC Books and Current Books brands as well as more than 50 agencies.
About 1500 books a year are published by D.C. Books, making it one of the largest literary publishers of India and with a revenue of $122.9 million.

Independent bookstores

The future isn’t entirely grim for independent booksellers. In fact, the closure of bigger retailers may actually have helped some independent bookstores to thrive.

Independent bookstores had 2023 locations in the US as of 2022.
This number peaked in 2019 with independent bookstores having 1,887 bookstores and 2,524 locations.
This number decreased again in 2020 to 1,700 stores and 2,100 locations, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Independent bookstores had 1,401 bookstores in 1,651 locations in 2009.
8,109 non-employer bookstores were counted in the United States according to the Census Bureau in 2018.
In 2019 there were 7,742 nonemployer bookstores, that’s 1,379 less compared to 2012.

Black-owned bookstores

There was a substantial increase in the number of independent bookstores in the US in 2021 and a growing proportion of these are black-owned bookstores and or owned by individuals of diverse ethnic backgrounds.

It is estimated that in the US there are some 149 black-owned bookstores as of 2022.
Out of the 2,500 independent bookstores in the country this only accounts for 6%.
Within the US there has been a 30% increase in the number of black-owned bookstores since 2018.
The number of Black bookstores peaked with at least 200 in the mid-‘90s, according to the African American Literature Book Club, before decreasing to just 54 in 2014.

Bookstore employees statistics

When it comes to bookstore employees, almost all bookstore firms (90.9%) could be classified by sex, ethnicity and race, as of 2017.

These made up 58.5% of the total sales of all establishments in the industry and 57.3% of the industries employment. The remaining 9.1% accounted for 41.5% of the total sales and 42.7% of the employment.

There were 59,547 people employed in bookstores as of 2020 in the US.
Between the years 2018 and 2020 the number of people employed in bookstores decreased on average by 11.4%.
Across the US, bookstore employees salaries currently range between $25,000 to $52,000 with top earners making $81,500 annually.
As of 2020, with an annual payroll of $849,246, 59,547 people were employed in bookstores.
64.8% of bookstore employees are female and have a $27,539 income, whereas 35.2% are male employees and have a $27,281 income.
Making up 60.2% of all bookstore employees, the most common ethnicity among bookstores is White, Hispanic or Latino makeup 18.3% and Black or African American 9.9%.

Bookstore revenue statistics

Bookstore sales statistics

Print book sales rose in 2020 by 8.2% in the US. and in 2021, units increased to 750.9 million, from 693.7 million compared to the year before.
In 2020 bookstore sales were $6,185 million due to the impact of the pandemic, but are close to being back to 2019 levels.
According to the US Census Bureau, bookstore sales fell nearly 30% in 2020.
December bookstore sales increased in 2022 by 33.6% increasing to $1.20 billion from $900 million in 2020, following sales jumps of 53% in October and 43% in November.
Based on the Economic Census of 2017 books made up 70.9% total bookstore sales.

US bookstore revenue statistics

In 2021 bookstore revenue sat at $8,017, a 22.9% increase from 2020.
Overall from 2010 to 2021 US bookstores have shown a gradual decrease in revenue from $15,238 million, a loss of 47.4%.
From 2023 to 2027 revenue is expected to show an annual rate of 1.45%.
The market size of bookstores in the US is $9.7bn as of 2023.
This is a -1.3% decrease in market growth and -3.1% in annual market growth from 2018 to 2023.
As of 2023 there are approximately 14,561 bookstores in the US
Currently, the US employs a total of 74,132 workers, the largest companies being Barnes and Noble Inc., Follet Higher Education Group Inc., and Books-A-Million Inc.
US Bookstores saw a revenue decline of 10.8% in 2020 after many stores closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
American Booksellers Association (ABA) reports that as of 2022, they have 2,023 member stores in 2,561 locations, which is up from the 1,689 in 2020.
The association also found that 80% of respondents on a survey said they saw higher sales in 2021 than in 2020, and 70 % said their sales the year prior were higher than 2019.

US Bookstore revenue from 2010 to 2021 is displayed in the charts below:

Year	Revenue ($ millions)
2021	$8,017
2020	$6,185
2019	$8,959
2018	$9,544
2017	$10,329
2016	$10,585
2015	$10,882
2014	$11,245
2013	$11,446
2012	$12,269
2011	$13,716
2010	$15,238

UK bookstore revenue statistics

In 2021 total revenue sales of books and journals in the United Kingdom reached 6.7 billion British pounds.
Digital revenue surpassed £3 billion British pounds for the first time in 2021
Sales revenue for print accounted for £3.5 billion British pounds

Australian bookstore revenue statistics

The Australian bookstore market is at $1.4 billion as of 2023.
This is a -1.6% decrease in market size growth and a -4.1% in annual market size from 2018 to 2023.
In 2020 sales of books in Australia grew 7.8% to $1.25 billion, unit sales for the same year were 67 million.
In 2021, the Australian book market experienced more growth of 2.5% in value to $1.3 billion, according to Nielsen BookScan.

Canadian bookstore revenue statistics

The Canadian bookstore market is at $1.7 billion as of 2023.
This is a -3% decrease in market size growth and a -7.4% in annual market size from 2018 to 2023.
In 2021 a total of 52.83 million books were sold in Canada, generating a revenue of over $1.1 billion dollars.
Although book sales revenue dropped between 2019 and 2020, it had been increasing slowly during the five years prior and surpassed one billion dollars for the first time in 2017.
According to BookNet Canada, book sales revenue increased by 65% between 2017 and 2018.

Indian bookstore revenue statistics

The Indian book market is currently worth $3.21 billion making it the sixth largest in the world and the second largest English language book market.
In 2023 revenue is expected to reach $3.86 billion.
This is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2023-2027) of 2.21%, resulting in $4.21 billion by 2027.

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Bookstores FAQ

What is the largest bookstore chain?

The biggest bookstore chain is Barnes & Noble, operating 627 retail stores across all 50 U.S. states.

Where is Europe’s largest bookshop?

Europe’s largest bookstore is Waterstones Piccadilly and claims to be the biggest bookstore in Europe. The store is spread over six huge floors which extends to 91,232 sq ft with more than eight miles of shelves, containing more than 200,000 titles.

What is the oldest bookstore in Europe?

The Bertrand Bookstore is the oldest bookstore in Europe. Opened in Portugal in 1732, in Chiado. Since April 2010 has held the Guinness World Record for oldest bookstore still in operation.

Why are bookstores declining?

The decline in used bookstores is due to economic reasons. These reasons are related to the lack of value in used books far more than to rises in rent. Paperback books and discounted hardbacks have nearly eliminated general interest in used books.

What is the future of bookstores?

The market size of the bookstore industry is $9.5 billion as of 2021, an amount that has been decreasing at a 5.7% rate annually. Rising competition from online retailers and an increasing popularity of eBook’s is the main contributor t