'We're back in business': UK bookshops see sales soar

First week back after shops reopened in England on 15 June saw almost 4m books sold, with Reni Eddo-Lodge’s anti-racism book still topping the charts

Almost 4m books were sold in the UK in the first six days after bookshops reopened last week – a jump of over 30% on the same week last year as desperate readers returned to browse the aisles for the first time in three months.

Bricks and mortar bookshops in England were able to open to shoppers on 15 June for the first time since they closed their doors in March, in response to the coronavirus pandemic. According to the UK’s official sales monitor Nielsen BookScan, which has not been able to report sales figures since 21 March “due to the unprecedented temporary closure of bookshops”, 3.8m print books were sold in the week to 20 June, for a value of £33m. This is up 31% in both volume and value compared to the same week last year, even with bookshops in Scotland and Wales still closed over the period. It is the highest value performance for the year’s 25th week since 2003, when Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released, according to the Bookseller.

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