DSW December Comp Store Sales Rise 3.9%

Retail Ventures, Inc. reported that total sales for the December period ended January 1, 2005 increased 6.1% to $364.4 million from $343.6 million for the year-ago period. The company’s same-store sales decreased 0.7% for the five week period.

Total sales for the company’s DSW Shoe Warehouse division rose 22.4% to $92.3 million from $75.4 million in December last year. Comps were up 3.9% for the month on top of a 13.9% increase in December last year.

Total sales for the forty-eight weeks ended January 1, 2005, increased 5.2% to $2.60 billion from $2.47 billion for the forty-eight weeks ended January 3, 2004. The company’s same store sales decreased 1.2% for the forty-eight week period.

  Retail sales statistics are as follows:


                                  Five weeks ended ($ in thousands)
                               January 1, 2005          January 3, 2004
                                $          %             $          %
  Total Sales
    Value City Department
     Stores                 $219,461      60.2       $224,839      65.5
    DSW Shoe Warehouse        92,266      25.3         75,373      21.9
    Filene's Basement         52,637      14.5         43,354      12.6
                            $364,364     100.0       $343,566     100.0

  Comparable Sales Percentage
    Value City Department Stores         (2.4)%                   (0.3)%
    DSW Shoe Warehouse                    3.9 %                   13.9 %
    Filene's Basement                     0.9 %                    9.0 %
                                         (0.7)%                    3.0 %