Macy's, Inc. reported total sales of $1.716 billion for the four weeks ended Aug. 27, 2011, an increase of 4.9 percent compared with total sales of $1.64 billion in the four weeks ended Aug. 28, 2010. On a same-store basis, Macy's, Inc. sales were up 5.0 percent in August.
“We are very pleased with our August sales results, especially considering that more than 100 of our stores, including some of the largest-volume locations in our company, were closed for all or part of Saturday on a very important shopping weekend because of Hurricane Irene. We estimate that same-store sales for the month of August, which ended on Saturday, would have been approximately 1.5 percentage points higher if not for the store closings and reduced customer traffic caused by the hurricane. Sales on Sunday, the first day of the September reporting period, also were impacted by about 130 hurricane-related store closings. Our business over the past three days has been strong, and we have rescheduled our Shop For A Cause event to this coming Saturday in disrupted markets. Thus, we expect the hurricane's effect on sales will be substantially offset as we move through September and the third quarter,” said Terry J. Lundgren, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Macy's, Inc.
“Our team did a terrific job preparing for the storm, helping keep associates out of harm's way, protecting the company's physical facilities and recovering operations quickly once the storm passed. While cognizant of uncertain economic conditions, we remain optimistic about the ability of Macy's and Bloomingdale's to serve customer needs and gain market share this fall season. Our decision to begin repurchasing shares in late August reflects our confidence in the business,” he said.
For the year to date, Macy's, Inc.'s sales totaled $13.544 billion, up 6.3 percent from total sales of $12.747 billion in the first 30 weeks of 2010. On a same-store basis, Macy's, Inc.'s year-to-date sales were up 5.8 percent.
Online sales (macys.com and bloomingdales.com combined) were up 35.5 percent in August and 38.7 percent year to date. Online sales are included in the same-store sales calculation for Macy's, Inc.
In late August, Macy's, Inc. resumed repurchasing shares of its common stock with excess cash. Through Aug. 31, the company repurchased 930,000 shares for a total of approximately $23.8 million.
