Books-A-Million, which operates 260 stores, told investment analysts that manga sales and strategy games were two contributors to its growth in the quarter ended November 1st, according to an earnings call transcript from Seeking Alpha. 

"Sales in the graphic novel category... grew nicely on the strength of a significant resurgence in the interest in several manga series, particularly Attack on Titan," BAM CEO Terry Finley said. 

The chain’s expansion into non-book products continued.  "Top performing [gift] categories included our expanded puzzles and strategy game area as well as toys and book accessory," Finley said.

This is the second consecutive quarter that BAM has called out graphic novels as a significant contributor to growth (see "Books-A-Million Calls Out Graphic Novels"); the mention of its gift categories was new. 

The chain’s sales were up 1.2% behind same store sales increases of 1.8% vs. the previous year in the quarter.  This is a big improvement over 2013, when sales were down 9.4% for the fiscal year (see "Book Sales Down at Books-A-Million").