Number of independent bookstores in the U.S. 2023

Whilst the source reported a drop in the number of bookstore members between 2019 and 2021, the most recent figures provided showed that there were 2,185 independent bookselling companies running 2,599 stores. During a recent survey in the United States, 20 percent of respondents stated that they still purchase most of their print books in store, in comparison to 22 percent who stated that they mostly buy books online. In 2022, bookstore sales in the United States amounted to less than nine billion U.S. dollars, a decrease from over 12 billion U.S. dollars a decade earlier.

What kinds of books do U.S. readers buy?

Some of the bestselling books in the U.S. sell hundreds of thousands of units each week, and Michelle Obama’s ‘Becoming’ was the top selling print book in 2018 with over 3.4 million copies sold. The average annual expenditure on reading per consumer unit in the United States hovers around the 100 U.S. dollar mark each year. Consumer expenditure on recreational books generally amounts to between 18 and 22 billion U.S. dollars per year. Books categorized as being in the suspense/thriller genre were by far the most popular, accounting for almost half of unit sales during that time period. Romance, mystery/detective, classics, and graphic novels also sold well, whereas juvenile and young adult fiction books with the most sales were mainly centered around science fiction, fantasy, and magic.

Number of independent bookstores in the United States from 2009 to 2023

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Release date

May 2023

More information

Region

United States

Survey time period

2009 to 2023

Special properties

American Booksellers Association members

Supplementary notes

Figure for 'locations' for 2014 not available. Figures for 2020 not provided by the source.
Figures other than for 2021 and 2022 come from earlier releases. The source noted that inactive members were no longer included in reporting as of 2020 and membership criteria also changed, to account for non-traditional businesses which may not be brick-and-mortar stores.

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