The Buckle, Inc. reported that sales for the four-week period ended July 31, 2004 increased 7.9 percent to $34.7 million from sales of $32.2 million in the corresponding four-week period ended August 2, 2003.

Comparable store sales, for stores open at least one year, for the four-week period ended July 31, 2004 increased 2.4 percent from comparable store sales for the prior year four-week period ended August 2, 2003. It should be noted that comparable store sales in Week 4 were negatively affected by the shift of “tax-free weekends” from Fiscal July to Fiscal August for 62 stores in the states of Texas, Iowa, North Carolina, West Virginia, and South Carolina.

Net sales year-to-date, for the 26 weeks ended July 31, 2004 increased 14.4 percent to $191.5 million from $167.4 million for the corresponding 26 weeks in the prior year. Comparable store sales year-to-date were up 9.3 percent from sales in the same 26-week period of the previous year.


Beginning with the four-week period ended May 1, 2004, the Company changed its method of reporting comparable store sales to exclude internet sales. Comparable store sales reported above for the four and twenty-six week periods ended July 31, 2004 reflect the impact of this change.

During the four weeks ended July 31, 2004, the Company purchased 5,700 shares of the Company's common stock at an average price of $26.84 per share. These shares were purchased pursuant to the corporate stock repurchase program authorized by the Board of Directors on December 27, 2000. The Company has 103,675 shares remaining to be purchased to complete this authorization.