Stage Stores total sales for the four-week period ended February 26, 2005, increased 5.1% to $92.3 million from $87.8 million in the prior year four-week period ended February 28, 2004.
The Company noted that most of its merchandise departments achieved comparable store sales increases during the month, with the greatest increases occurring in accessories, women’s special sizes, footwear and cosmetics.
Jim Scarborough, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We are very pleased with our February sales results. It is especially gratifying to note that this year’s comparable store sales growth of 3.7% was on top of a very strong increase of 8.0% last year.”
Mr. Scarborough concluded, “Looking forward, we anticipate that our comparable store sales results for March will benefit from the Easter calendar shift from April 11th last year to March 27th this year. Conversely, we expect that our sales results for April will be negatively impacted by the calendar shift. For the first quarter, we are projecting an overall comparable store sales increase in the low single digits range.”
