Book sales jump a third in first week of bookshops reopening in England and Wales | Booksellers - The Guardian

Alison Flood, Guardian's books reporter and the former news editor of the Bookseller inform, Boksers report giddy customers browsing and smelling books, with 3.7m print books shifted in first week after lockdown.

Westbourne Bookshop in Bournemouth.
Photo: Paul Angel

Booksellers have reported their customers “acting like kids in a sweet shop”, with print sales jumping a third in the first week of bookshops opening their doors after lockdown.

Bookshops open across England and Wales opened on 12 April, alongside other non-essential retailers, for the first time since December. Readers rushed to benefit, with official book sales monitor Nielsen BookScan reporting print market growth of 33% in volume and 32.5% in value week on week. In total, 3.7m books were sold in the seven days to 17 April...

At Westbourne Bookshop in Bournemouth, owner Paul Angel agreed. “We’ve had people trying to smell the books through their masks, and perfectly respectable middle-aged people acting like kids in a sweet shop. We’ve had a great first week.

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Source: The Guardian