The retail landscape proved surprisingly pleasant in fiscal April as the beginning of summers warmth met with an extra days selling to drive the consumer, who has completely converted to a buy now-wear now mentality, to the register. According to a tally of 35 retail-chain stores compiled by the International Council of Shopping Centers, comps rose 3.6%. Growth focused around lux and discount/mass retailers (see chart on page 7), though teen retailers saw stand-out performances from The Buckle and Aeropostale.
According to data compiled by SportScanINFO, sales in the active lifestyle market increased in the low-singles when measured in dollars with a mid-singles increase in units sold that resulted in a low-singles decrease in average selling prices. Mid-singles increases in Sport Apparel and Hardgoods more than offset a high-singles decline in Licensed. Sport Footwear sales were just below flat for the month. Licensed sales did see a modest increase in ASP, while Hardgoods ASP rose in the high-singles. However, Sport Apparel saw a sharp decline in average selling prices as consumers sought more for less. Average selling prices in Sport Footwear, like sales, were just below flat.
DSW Inc. saw a modest overall sales rise for the first quarter, but comparable store sales slid. The worries do not end at comp sales as the retailer also gave guidance for the full fiscal year that is well below the year-ago result. For the fiscal year, DSW expects comparable store sales to be in the negative mid-single-digits and earnings per diluted share to be in the range of 75 cents to 85 cents. For fiscal 2007, the company saw comps slip 0.8% with diluted earnings per share of $1.21.
Pacific Sunwear of California, Inc. said total sales from its PacSun division for the month were $73.8 million, an increase of 5% versus division sales of $70.4 million during the same period last year. PacSun same-store sales increased 4% during the same period. Geographically, comps were strongest in New England, the Mid-Atlantic and Texas, but were weakest in the desert Southwest, Rocky Mountains, Florida and Southern California. Apparel sales saw a 22% comp increase. Juniors apparel comps were up mid-30s. Young men's apparel comps were up low-double-digits. Accessory comps were down low-teens and footwear comps were down mid-50s.
For the first quarter, total sales from the PacSun division decreased slightly to $266.8 million from $267.9 million last year. Same store sales decreased 1% during the same period. PSUN said it expects to report a GAAP net loss for the first quarter of fiscal 2008 in the range of 17 cents to 18 cents per diluted share.
Zumiez Inc. reported a 20.0% increase in net sales for fiscal April to $24.2 million from $20.2 million for the year-ago month. The company's comparable store sales increased 4.1% for the four-week period, versus a comparable store sales increase of 3.0% in the year-ago period. The retailer saw negative comps in the first week, with growth the rest of the month, though at a slower rate for each successive week. For the combined March-April period, Zumiez reported that comps were flat after growth of 10.8% for the year-ago period. Footwear and skate hardgoods were up, but juniors was down. Fiscal first quarter comparable store sales decreased 0.8%.
The Buckle, Inc. saw comparable store sales vault 34% for the month. Net sales for April climbed 38.3% to $47 million from net sales of $34 million a year ago. Mens sales for the month increased approximately 44% while women's sales for the month grew approximately 34.5%. For the first quarter, same store sales jumped 25.6%
