Havin' a Baby

Mothers Work Inc. (Philadelphia) announced an 8.6 percent increase in net sales for the month of March 2003. Same-store sales increased 1.3 percent (based on 830 locations).

During the month, the maternity apparel retailer opened nine new locations and closed two locations, ending the month with 949 units.

For the second quarter of fiscal 2003, ending March 31, net sales increased 6.1 percent and same-store sales increased 0.2 percent. The company opened 22 new locations during the quarter and closed eight.

“We are encouraged by our significantly improved sales performance for the month of March compared to February,” said president and coo Rebecca Matthias. “Our comparable-store sales increased for the month of March even with the adverse impact of the shift in the timing of Easter from March last year to April this year, which we estimate reduced our March comparable-store sales increase by approximately two percentage points. We began to see a pickup in our sales of spring merchandise, particularly in the latter half of the month, as warmer weather in much of the United States seems to have spurred on spring sales.”

Mothers Work's 949 locations, including 801 stores and 148 leased departments, operate predominantly under the trade names Motherhood Maternity, A Pea in the Pod and Mimi Maternity.