Famous Footwear saw its sixth straight quarter of comp store sales increases in the first quarter ended April 29, posting a 1.9% comp sales gain for the period on top of a 1.5% increase in the year-ago period, but continued efforts to clean up inventories impacted operating profits for the quarter. Famous experienced a “slight decrease” in store traffic during the period, but consumers were buying more on each trip, pushing pairs per transaction, average unit retail, and the customer conversion ratio up for the first quarter.

Joe Wood, president of Famous Footwear, said that the women’s business led the results for Q1, posting strong double-digit increases over last year, led by junior sport fusion, fashion dress, and clog styles. The men’s business also saw “strong growth” for the quarter, with sandals leading the way, and the children’s business delivered a double-digit gain for the period, led by sandals and casual footwear.

Athletics comped “slightly down” for the quarter as more consumers shift from classics to fashion athletic styles, many of which, such as Skechers, are found in the non-athletic classifications. Mr. Wood said they are changing inventories to address the shift to low-profile silhouettes, but he expects athletics to remain challenging through some of the second quarter.” Sales of men’s and boys skate styles were said to be “up dramatically,” but could not offset lackluster sales of other athletic footwear.

Mr. Wood said athletics were slightly less than 50% of total sales for the period. He said the business wasn’t down that much and was really driven by a shift from “athletic canvas into some other categories.” Children’s is about 12% of the total footwear business with men’s and women’s splitting the balance of sales.

Total sales for Famous Footwear were said to be “on target” for the period, posting a 4.7% increase to $302.3 million for Q1 from $288.7 million in the year-ago period. Operating earnings were down 3.7% to $15.9 million in Q1, compared to $16.5 million for Q1 last year. The move to clean out carry-over goods and make room for fresh product had its desired effect, as inventories at quarter-end came in at roughly $5 million below the same time last year when the retailer had 25 fewer stores.

Famous Footwear opened 10 stores and closed 11 stores in Q1, resulting in 952 stores open at quarter-end. For the full year, Famous Footwear will open approximately 90 stores and close about 40.

FF parent, Brown Shoe Company, Inc., reported a 10.0% increase in consolidated net sales to $575.5 million for the first quarter. Net earnings were $10.0 million, or 35 cents per diluted share, versus net earnings of $3.8 million or 13 cents per diluted share on a post-split basis, in the year-ago period.

Company Chairman and CEO Ron Fromm said they are on track to report a first half that is “well ahead of last year.” The gain comes primarily from the inclusion of about $48 million from Bennett Footwear, which was acquired nine days before the end of Q1 last year. Excluding the Bennett contribution, organic sales in the wholesale group would have been down nearly four percent, thanks to some weakness in kid’s and continued challenges at Naturalizer.


>>> Here we go again… Non-athletic brands are doing a better job at sports-inspired footwear than the athletic brands