J. C. Penney Company, Inc.’s comparable store sales decreased 4.9% for the four-week period ended Aug. 30, in-line with the company’s guidance for sales to decrease mid-single digits. In last year’s August reporting period, comparable store sales decreased 2.4%. Total company sales in August decreased 3.2% to $1.51 billion from $1.56 billion.


 


Women’s apparel and family shoes were the strongest performing merchandise divisions in August, while fine jewelry and home experienced the weakest sales during the month. The central and northwest regions were the best performing regions, with the southeast experiencing the softest sales in August. With respect to inventory, the department store continues to expect that total inventory will be below last year’s level at the end of the BTS shopping season.


 


For the 30-week, year-to-date period, sales fell 3.7% to $9.92 billion from $10.3 billion. Comps declined 5.7% versus a 2.3% gain in the year-ago period.


           


For the September sales period, J.C. Penney forecast a mid- to high-single digit decrease in comparable store sales, compared to a 3.7% decrease during the same period last year.