Barnes & Noble earned $858.5 million during the second quarter of 2017, a 4 percent drop over the same time frame as the previous year.
Retail sales, which factor in sales from bricks-and-mortar stores and BN.com, were $830.7 million, a 3.5 percent drop. Comparable store dropped 3.2 percent, which the company attributed to lower store traffic. Sales from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child helped prevent sales from dropping further, the book seller explained. NOOK sales were $35 million for the quarter, a 19.4 percent drop over the prior year.
The bookseller attributed the drop in sales in part to the presidential election. “While we are pleased to have improved our performance due to expense reductions, we did experience sluggish sales, which we believe are directly related to the election cycle,” stated Len Riggio, chairman and CEO Barnes & Noble. “With the election behind us, we hope and expect sales will improve over the holidays.”