West Marine, Inc. management said they were very pleased with sales results for their fiscal first quarter ended April 3, boasting an 8.5% sales increase on surging comps and increased demand for big-ticket items like boats, motors and electronics.
CEO Geoff Eisenberg said unseasonably warm weather in the Northeast, an expansion in the assortment of clothing and technical apparel and a continued impact from the 2009 closure of Boaters World boosted comps 8.4% over last years first quarter. Eisenberg added that despite cold weather in the southeastern region of the country during the early part of the year, the shortfall was more than offset by the aforementioned clement March weather in the Northeast.
After a fiscal 2009 that saw the Watsonville, CA- based marine retailer report sales down 6.8% on store closures and a generally challenging year for the boating industry, West Marine said revenues for the first quarter were up 8.5% to $109.6 million. Sales for WMARs Stores segment rebounded to post revenues of $96.4 million, up 9.1% from the year-ago period. The Port Supply (wholesale) business segment reported revenues through distribution centers slipped 1.6% to $6.7 million while revenues from the Direct segment improved 11.1% to $6.5 million.
While store closures in the first quarter pushed down $3.9 million, Eisenberg said an uptick in sales of maintenance-type products is an indicator that more people are using their boats this year. Finally, Eisenberg added that West Marines decision to bring core goods in earlier and in greater quantity to prepare for a spike in demand has paid off.
