The Walking Co., which is part of Big Dog Holdings, reported third
quarter revenues jumped 20% to $36.9 million from $30.7 million in Q3
last year, driven by a 9.6% comp increase and 26 net new stores versus
last year. TWC opened six stores in the quarter and ended with 165
stores.
Andrew Feshbach, president and CEO of Big Dog Holdings, said the comp
increase reflects continued expansion of market share in existing
malls, a strong fall merchandise mix, and the opening of internet
kiosks in many of the concepts locations.
On a conference call with analysts, Feshbach said TWC has 105 kiosks in
place, and is hoping to have 95% of the stores wired prior to the
Thanksgiving holiday and to eventually reach 100%. Feshbach said its
new store openings as a whole are performing well in relation to
internal sales projections. All but one of the acquired Steves Shoes
stores have been converted and continue to comp above the chain.
Gross margin at TWC improved slightly to 51.6% from 51.3% last
year. TWC's inventory is in line with its plans to open 20
additional stores in Q4.
Overall, Big Dog Holding's consolidated sales increased 4.5% to $56.6
million from $54.1 million as the 26 new TWC stores offset the net
closings of 17 Big Dog stores. Big Dog Holdings showed a loss of
$140,000, or a penny per share, against earnings of $471,000, or 5
cents a share, a year ago, largely attributable to the reduction in Big
Dog's revenue and profit contribution.
