Specialty apparel retailers starting to see signs of growth
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Aeropostale Inc. (New York) says its fiscal third quarter profit surged 47 percent as the retailer experienced a strong start to the holiday season with same-store sales rising 10 percent on the two days following Thanksgiving. For November, net sales rose 18 percent while same-store sales increased 10 percent.
Gap Inc. (San Francisco) reported its November 2009 net sales were up two percent from last year to $1.42 billion. Same-store sales were flat compared with a decrease of 10 percent for November 2008.
Among its brands, comparable store sales were down 4 percent for Gap North America and Banana Republic North America; international sales declined 5 percent. Old Navy North America continued its strong performance with same-store sales rising 6 percent versus negative 9 percent last year
“We’re pleased that we continued to meet our objective of improving our sales trend and we did it with merchandise margins significantly above last year,” says Sabrina Simmons, chief financial officer of Gap Inc.
Department store retailer Macy’s Inc. (Cincinnati) says its total sales dropped 6.3 percent to $2.177 billion for the four-week period. On a same-store basis, Macy's sales were down 6.1 percent.
Specialty retailer Destination Maternity Corp. (Philadelphia) says its net sales for November decreased 3.1 percent, while comparable store sales dropped 11.6 percent.
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