Gottschalks Inc. reported a 7.4% decrease in January comps. Total sales for the four-week month decreased 30.8% to $30.1 million from $43.5 million for the five-week period ended February 3, 2007. Excluding the additional week in January 2007, total sales decreased 10.3%. The company operated two fewer stores for the month, quarter and fiscal year periods.
Total sales for the 13-week fiscal quarter decreased 14.2% to $204.4 million from $238.1 million for the 14-week fourth quarter of fiscal 2006. Total sales for the fourth quarter excluding the additional week decreased 10.0%. Same store sales for the comparable 13-week period decreased 8.5% from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006.
Total sales for the 52-week fiscal 2007 decreased 8.1% to $628.5 million from $683.9 million for the 53-week fiscal year 2006. Total sales for fiscal 2007 excluding the additional week decreased 6.6%. Same store sales for the comparable 52-week fiscal year period decreased 5.1% from fiscal 2006.
Jim Famalette, chairman and CEO of Gottschalks said, “As anticipated our sales results in January were negatively impacted by the weak economic environment. We continued to experience the greatest impact in our California locations, with our Northwest stores delivering better results for the month. Regarding our merchandise categories, coats, moderate sportswear and children's were our best performing categories while we experienced the softest sales in textiles and home furnishings. We deepened our promotions during the month to clear through seasonal merchandise, and that coupled with our ongoing focus on tight inventory management resulted in comparable store inventory 6.5% below the same period of the prior year at the end of the month. Our performance in January continued the trends we experienced throughout the fourth quarter as we faced a very challenging selling environment. As a result, we currently anticipate that we will report a marginal profit in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007.
“We expect to see a continuation of the current retail environment into the early part of fiscal 2008 and, as a result, we are taking a conservative approach to managing our business in the near-term. We plan to continue to make progress on our Value Improvement Program launched in the second half of 2007, and look forward to the improvements in our business that we expect to benefit Gottschalks in fiscal 2008 as well as in the long term. We remain committed to long-term expansion of our top line and operating margin as well as maximizing shareholder value through projects focused on merchandising, technology and real estate.”
