Brown Shoe Company, Inc. announced March retail sales at Famous Footwear were $102,000,000 for the five-week period ended April 5, 2003, a 7.6 percent decrease compared to $110,400,000 for the same period last year (ended April 6, 2002). Due to the calendar shift for Easter and lower retail traffic, same-store sales were down 10.6 percent for the month.
“It was a difficult month for retail,” said Chief Executive Officer Ron Fromm. “Results were impacted by the shift of Easter from March in 2002 to April this year, a factor that is expected to positively affect same-store sales in April. At the same time, weather and war concerns kept consumers at home.
“Despite the environment, footwear purchase ratios at Famous Footwear were up — as we converted more browsers to buyers than last year — indicating a positive response to our spring assortment. In addition, gross margin rates were up and gross margin dollars were nearly even with last year,” Fromm said.
Year-to-date sales for Famous Footwear were $169,200,000 compared to $183,000,000 for the same nine-week period last year. Same-store sales for the period were down 9.8 percent.
