First quarter revenues at The Walking Company climbed 15% to $37.3 million as new store openings offset a 0.5% comp decline. TWC, a division of Big Dog Holdings, had 41 new net stores open this quarter versus last year.
Overall, net sales for Big Dog Holdings increased 5% to $46.4 million as the gains at TWC offset a 22% decline at the Big Dog chain due to store closings. Its board recently approved a change in the company's name to The Walking Company Holdings, Inc. The net loss for Big Dog was $5 million, or 52 cents a share, versus a loss of $4.1 million, or 44 cents, a year ago.
On a conference call, Andrew Feshbach, president and CEO, said the company was “pretty pleased” with TWC's flattish comps given the retail environment.
“We feel that our more recent trend over the last month is ahead of the first quarter, and we're seeing small positive gains in each, on a comp basis,” adds Feshbach. He also said TWC is pushing a number of new sales initiatives and will roll out a number of new products to avoid becoming overly promotional to drive sales. This includes increasing penetration of private label assortments to 15% of sales this year from 10% in 2007.
