After warning in January that its holiday same store sales were off sharply (9.1%, see "Barnes & Noble Holiday Sales Plummet"), it was no surprise that Barnes & Noble reported a down quarter for the period ended January 31 on Thursday.  But sales since the end of the year, after a brief uptick in the first half of January, have continued a downward trend according to statements on the company’s conference call as transcribed by Seeking Alpha.  Comparable store sales were down 8.3% for the quarter (the holiday season was the worst of it), and the company is now predicting same store sales to be down 7% for the fiscal year ending April 30.  That’s worse than the 6% decline the company was expecting just two months ago.

So why is this happening?  Fewer people are in stores, and just as he did in November, CEO Leonard Riggio is attributing the reduction in traffic to interest in the fast-changing political scene, which he argues is keeping people at home in front of the television watching the news instead of shopping on weekday evenings (see "B&N Blames Weak Sales on Election").

Riggio also noted another phenomenon related to the political climate – the reduction in media terrain for books.  With more political segments on news and morning shows, there are less opportunities to break a book with a successful author appearance on television.  "All the talk now is about politics, and books have been starved of any presence there." Riggio said.

The book channel graphic novel chart definitely shows the interest in politics that Riggio sees; Congressman John Lewis’s March trilogy has been sitting up top, especially since a President Trump tweet-storm raised the autobiography’s profile (see "January 2017 BookScan--Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels").

And manga sales are being affected by the trends Riggio noted, VIZ Media Senior Media Director Sales & Marketing Kevin Hamric told ICv2 in an interview last week.  "There does seem to be a little bit of a concern going forward with a soft January and a soft February," he said.  "I think I want to attribute that to the current political climate."

When the situation will change is uncertain.  "I expect us to be coming out of this slump... but I can’t predict the day or the month, the week or the month that this would happen," Riggio said in the conference call.

Earnings were off from the same quarter a year ago, down to $70.3 million from $80.3 million in the year ago period.