Retail sales at Famous Footwear rose 0.2% to $85.1 million for the four-week period ended May 29, 2004, compared to $84.9 million for the same period last year. Same-store sales decreased 2.2%, as the calendar shift in Memorial Day weekend negatively affected sales. “Adjusting for the Memorial Day shift, store-for-store sales in May would have been approximately even with last year, and margins remained strong,” Ron Fromm, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said. “In addition and looking forward, because the 4th of July holiday also shifts from the June sales calendar in 2003 to the July sales calendar in 2004, year over year sales comparisons will not be comparable until July,” Fromm added.
Famous Footwear sales for the first 17 weeks of fiscal 2004 were $357,200,000, a 3.2% increase compared to $346,000,000 for the same period last year. Same-store sales for the fiscal year-to-date period were up 1.4%.
Retail sales at Brown Shoe's Naturalizer retail division were $16,500,000 for the month, compared to $17,100,000 last May. Same-store sales were down 3.6 percent, again affected by the Memorial Day calendar shift.
Naturalizer Retail sales for the first 17 weeks were $61,800,000 compared to $60,000,000 for the same period last year. Same-store sales for the 17 weeks were up 0.7 percent.
MONTH AND YEAR-TO-DATE SALES (millions)
FY 2004 FY 2003 % Same-Store Stores Open
(5/29/04) (5/31/03) Change % Change 5/29/04 vs. 5/31/03
May -Famous
Footwear $85.1 $84.9 0.2 (2.2) 900 911
Y-T-D -Famous
Footwear 357.2 346.0 3.2 1.4
May -
Naturalizer 16.5 17.1 (3.5) (3.6) 379 385
Y-T-D -
Naturalizer 61.8 60.0 3.0 0.7
Other Highlights for the month
-- Famous Footwear opened 3 new stores in the following markets:
Silverthorne, CO, Aurora, IL and Atlantic City, NJ.
-- Naturalizer opened a new store in the following market:
Chicago, IL.
