Gottschalks Inc. saw same store sales for the month of September decrease 11.8% from the prior year. Total sales for the five-week period decreased 13.2% to $45.8 million compared to $52.8 million in the same period of fiscal 2007. On a year-to-date basis, which consisted of 35 weeks, same store sales decreased 9.3% from the comparable period of fiscal 2007. Total sales on a year-to-date basis decreased 10.6% to $341.9 million compared to $382.4 million in the same period of the prior year. The company operated one less store for the month and year-to-date periods compared to the same periods in fiscal 2007.
Jim Famalette, chairman and CEO of Gottschalks said, “Our sales results for September reflect the persistent challenges in the macroeconomic environment, which intensified due to unprecedented and mounting events in the financial markets. In light of these events, we are seeing the consumer continue to be cautious and, like most retailers, this has further impacted our customers spending levels. However, we continue to prudently manage the areas of our business within our control as we remain focused on effectively managing our capital spending, inventory, gross margin and expenses appropriately to correspond with current sales trends. As a result of our efforts, we ended the month with comparable store inventory down 6.1% versus the same period last year. Our best performing categories for the month were cosmetics, young mens and intimate apparel while textiles and housewares were the most challenging.”
