Famous Footwear June Comps Decline 3.8%

Brown Shoe Company, Inc. reported that June retail sales for its Famous Footwear chain of 905 family footwear stores, were $99,000,000 for the five-week period ended July 5, 2003, a 1.6 percent decrease compared to $100,600,000 for the same period last year (ended July 6, 2002). Same-store sales for the period decreased 3.8 percent.

Sales for the first 22 weeks of 2003 were $445,000,000, a 1.6 percent decrease compared to the same period last year. Same-store sales for the 22 weeks declined 4.3 percent.

“Customer traffic counts at Famous Footwear declined, as we focused on maintaining margins to protect the bottom line in what was a highly promotional marketplace,” said Brown Shoe Chairman and CEO Ron Fromm. “While seasonal sales of athletic, men’s and kid’s footwear were softer than last year, sales of junior-fashion and women’s dress footwear showed nice gains. Margins were up for all categories.”

Retail sales at Brown Shoe’s domestic Naturalizer Retail division, a 211-store chain selling the Naturalizer brand of women’s footwear, were $11,400,000 for the month on a store-base of 18 percent fewer stores, compared to $12,200,000 last June. Same-store sales were up 7.0 percent.

Naturalizer Retail sales for the first 22 weeks were $50,900,000 compared to $60,000,000 for the same period last year. Same-store sales for the 22 weeks were essentially flat compared to last year [up 0.1 percent].

“Our Naturalizer Retail division had a strong month as the warmer weather coincided with our semi-annual clearance sale, increasing demand for our sandalized footwear,” Fromm said. “In addition, we again saw gains in our tailored dress footwear, and are encouraged by the positive response to our newly delivered fall-transitional styles.”

    MONTH AND YEAR-TO-DATE SALES (millions)
                  FY 2003   FY 2002    %    Same-Store    Stores Open
                 (7/05/03) (7/06/02) Change  % Change  7/05/03 vs. 7/06/02
    June -Famous
     Footwear      $99.0    $100.6   (1.6)     (3.8)     905         920
    Y-T-D -Famous
     Footwear      445.0     452.1   (1.6)     (4.3)

    June -
    Naturalizer     11.4      12.2   (6.6)      7.0       211        259
    Y-T-D -
    Naturalizer     50.9      60.0  (15.2)      0.1