Harry Potter Boosts Barnes & Noble Comps

NEW YORK CITY-Barnes & Noble’s second-quarter sales got a big lift from the newest book in the Harry Potter series, released in July. The chain’s same-store sales rose 4.4% year over year, but not including “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the increase would have come in at 1%.

The company’s total sales were $1.2 billion for the period ended Aug. 4, a 7.6% increase from last year, while net income was $18 million, up from $16.6 million during the same period in 2006. “While this business doesn’t tend to have a lot of peaks like Harry Potter, it also doesn’t tend to have a lot of valleys,” said Steve Riggio, the company’s chief executive officer, during a conference call.

Barnes & Noble slightly cut back its store-opening guidance for the year, from between 35 to 40 new units to 30 to 35. The balance of the units will end up opening in 2008. “We could clearly turn that up and open more stores,” says Mitchell Klipper, the company’s chief operating officer. “We’re opening best locations and not best-available locations.”