West Marine, Inc. reported that net sales for the four weeks ended January 25, 2003 were $24.5 million, a 10.4% increase from net sales of $22.2 million for the same period a year ago. Comparable store net sales for the four weeks ended January 25, 2003 decreased 5.4% from the same period a year ago.
John Edmondson, President and CEO of West Marine stated, “January sales fully met our expectations. The El Nino effect continued to play a role as evidenced by the Southeast and West Coast which reported negative comparable sales of -7.5% and -6.6% respectively. These two regions represent approximately three-fourths of our sales in the month. However, the Northeast reported positive comparable sales of 2.4%.
“The integration of the BoatU.S. stores is proceeding ahead of schedule. Our merchants have already held meetings with vendors representing a significant portion of our merchandise purchases. These meetings have gone very well and we are ahead of schedule on our gross margin enhancement plans. We estimate that we will be finished with our integration by March 15, 2003.”
