Bookshop in red despite ‘Fifty Shades’

Sales of publishing phenomenon EL James’s Fifty Shades of Grey were not enough to prevent one of Ireland’s largest independent booksellers from going into the red last year.

New figures returned by O’Mahony’s Booksellers Ltd show that the firm recorded a pre-tax loss last year of €169,184 after a pre-tax profit of €23,077 in fiscal 2012.

O’Mahony’s operates four bookstores in the midwest and south-west. It recorded the loss after its gross profit declined from €3.23m to €3.12m in the 12 months to the end of February 28, 2013.