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2003 Statistical Look at Used Book Market
Online stores up; Number of Brick & Mortar stores down for first time in eight years
For the latest statistical look at the used book market in the United States, check the Book Hunter Press site which features a 2003 Update to the original 1999 report "The Quiet Revolution: The Expansion of the Used Book Market" and shows growth trends over the past decade, including used bookstores (a.k.a. open shops or brick and mortar stores). The Report was prepared by Book Hunter Press, publishers of The Used Book Lover's Guides. The company has been tracking the used book market since 1992 and maintains the most comprehensive database of used book sellers in the United States and Canada. The entire Report can be printed from the web page by clicking the "Printable Version" link.Some highlights:
-- While the overall number of used book sellers in the United States continues to grow, after eight years of steady growth, the number of brick and mortar used bookstores showed it first decline in 2002, dropping to 4,119 stores from a high of 4,328 stores in 2000.
-- The total number of used book sellers reached 7,198 in 2002, a 20% increase over the past decade.
-- As a percentage of all used book sellers, brick and mortar stores now account for 57% of all used book sellers, compared to 61% two years ago.
-- The pattern of growth and/or decline in the number of bookstores over the past decade is uneven across the country with the greatest number of new stores opening in New England and the Central/Western and Pacific Coast States experiencing the greatest net decline.