Post-holiday promotional push begins

December 21, 2010

With only a few days to go until Christmas retailers are already positioning themselves for post holiday success by touting promotions to capitalize on gift card redemptions. Target and JCPenney this week announced special incentives that begin the day after Christmas when both plan to open at 7 a.m.

Target said it planned to offer free shipping on certain online purchases and would extend store hours until 11 p.m., while JCPenney said is employing a similar strategy, featuring more than 100 doorbusters in a 48-page sales circular. Those who can’t wait until the day after Christmas can visit jcpenney.com to begin shopping the post holiday specials on the retailer’s website where free shipping will be offered on various items.

“Target makes shopping fun, fast and festive for our guests throughout the holiday season,” said Target merchandising VP Nik Nayar. “Most holiday gift cards are redeemed in our electronics department so we are gearing up for great deals on some of our guests’ favorite products such as video games, TVs and cameras.”

According to JCPenney, the day after Christmas is quickly becoming the retailer’s second busiest sales day after Black Friday.

For further information, visit: http://www.retailingtoday.com/article/post-holiday-promotional-push-begins?ad=apparel-accessories

J.C. Penney Ends ‘Big Book’ Catalogues

October 21, 2010

J.C. Penney Co. Inc.’s transition from “Big Book” catalogues to “look book” mailers is now complete.

The Plano, Tex.-based retailer ended its Big Book catalogue earlier this year. J.C. Penney will still be in the print media business, but the new books will become “specialty in-store” mailers showcasing select fashion looks or must-haves to encourage consumers to shop in-store or online. The traditional catalogue format featured everything in a particular category.

Speaking last month at the Telsey Advisory Group’s Consumer Conference, Myron E. “Mike” Ullman 3rd, chairman and chief executive officer of Penney’s, told attendees, “Our strength ended up being a limitation at some point. Our being in 77 different catalogues, [speaking] to a lot of narrow audiences — frankly, it tied up a lot of inventory and got us kind of supporting multiple businesses that probably weren’t necessary.”

Penney’s catalogue dates back to 1963 and grew to a $1 billion in 1979, according to Penney’s.

Walter Loeb, former retail analyst and head of the consulting firm that bears his name, said, “This is the end of an era. Penney’s was great with their catalogue and it is the last of the cataloguers getting out of the business. Given the economic environment, it is probably more profitable for them to use the Little Red Book format as a marketing tool.”

“We made approximately 25 catalogue mailings in 2010, which was less than we’ve had in previous years as we’ve been replacing our traditional ‘big book’ catalogues with more focused cross-channel marketing pieces sent to customers on a targeted basis,” a Penney’s spokeswoman told WWD. “We mailed seven Women’s Little Red Books in 2010 and we’ll increase to nine to 10 in 2011. We mailed five Men’s Matters of Style books in 2010 and we’ll increase to six to seven in 2011.”

Shoppers who relied on the catalogues for their purchases can either go to jcp.com or contact a Penney customer care center, which will input the order through the Web site.

One source familiar with the change said increasing printing and postage costs “would soon be a considerable drag” on the retailer’s business. In addition, the catalogue operation had its own inventory system that was not connected with inventory at the stores or at jcp.com. Another source said the move will allow the retailer to better manage inventory and allocation levels for its stores and Web site.

The spokeswoman noted that one new feature online is the ability to input a zip code to find out if an item is available in a nearby store.

JC Penney Sets Aggressive Store Opening Plan

October 1, 2010

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. on Tuesday said it will open three stores next year as part of its plan to generate $1 billion in sales growth through new retail expansion over the next five years. Penney’s long term plans call for opening 75 new stores by 2014.

The first three stores are slated for Dallas; Daly City, Calif., which borders San Francisco, and Glenarden, Md., about 10 miles east of Washington. Penney’s has existing stores in all three markets, which cater to middle-income shoppers.

While Wal-Mart Stores Inc. slowed construction of SuperCenters amid the weakening economy and Gap Inc. has said it’s not planning to open new stores in the near term, Penney’s believes the markets it’s identified are underserved by its stores, so it will intensify its presence. The Daly City and Glenarden stores will open in the spring and the Dallas unit will bow in the fall.

Penney’s has an aggressive store-renovation program. By October, more than 750 units will have been renovated during 2010, including 76 major renovations, which took place in California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New York and Texas. Penney’s is aggressively expanding Sephora beauty boutiques. The retailer said stores with 1,500-square-foot Sephora installations are performing 1.5 percent better those without them. Other store improvements include in-store shops for new brands such as MNG by Mango, Call It Spring by Aldo, and new fixturing for the rollout of Liz Claiborne across 30 categories. Findmore interactive in-store fixtures are also making their way through the store fleet. Consumers can purchase from jcp.com using the technology.

Penney’s is investing $160 million on the improvements out of its $500 million capital- expenditure budget for the year.

The retailer hopes to complete the major renovations of more than 375 stores by 2014.

For further information, visit: http://www.wwd.com/retail-news?module=tn#/article/retail-news/penney-s-sets-aggressive-store-opening-plan-3310480?navSection=retail-news

J.C. Penney Landing in Manhattan

July 20, 2009

Could the real miracle now be on Manhattan’s 33rd Street?

Plano-based J.C. Penney thinks so, as it’s gearing up for the July 31 official opening of its first Manhattan store, just a block from Macy’s towering flagship in Herald Square.

The new store is key to Penney’s campaign to boost sales by shedding its reputation for dowdiness. That effort in recent years has included adding exclusive affordable collections from designer Nicole Miller, home furnishings from home maven Chris Madden and trendy in-store Sephora cosmetics shops.

Penney expects the store to be its largest sales generator. It believes even New York fashionistas are looking for affordable options as the recession maintains its grip. But Wall Street is taking note of the changing Manhattan retail landscape and will watch who shops at Penney and whether they are defecting from rivals like Macy’s. That Herald Square fixture since 1902 was made world famous by the annual Thanksgiving Day parade and the Christmas movie “Miracle on 34th Street.”

“Penney’s has been around for a long time, but it hasn’t had the visibility of its competitors,” said Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of real estate firm Prudential Douglas Elliman’s retail leasing sales division.

Consolo said higher-priced Macy’s and even the neighborhood’s Victoria’s Secret store, have “reason to be concerned” because Penney is likely to draw a full cross-section of the 250,000 shoppers who store officials say visit the area daily.

Penney, which usually sticks to staid radio and print ads to promote store openings, seems to be having fun ruffling feathers in the historic retail Mecca.

“We hear Herald Square needed a good department store,” one bus shelter proclaims. And another: “The real miracle is now on 33rd Street.”

But Macy’s spokesman Jim Sluzewski declined to comment, pointing out only that the 2.2 million-square-foot flagship is the world’s largest store and one of New York’s biggest tourist attractions. That compares with the much smaller Penney store, with about 150,000 square feet.

Sales at Plano, Texas-based Penney, which has 1,000 stores across the U.S., have stalled and profits dropped since the recession began in late 2007 and shoppers started cutting back on discretionary items like fashion. But competitors like Macy’s have suffered more, slashing its work force and closing stores. Penney’s has only slowed store expansion and cut inventory.

The average 7.8 percent sales decline since February at Penney stores open at least a year compares with 7 percent at Kohl’s Corp. and 9 percent at Macy’s.

Competitively priced trendy merchandise has been Penney’s strong suit in the recession, said Chief Marketing Officer Mike Boylson, while mid-priced basics and big-ticket items like furniture and jewelry have been weak.

Penney already operates stores in the Bronx, Staten Island and Queens, but Boylson believes the Manhattan store “is going to have a halo effect on the entire brand.”

When Penney’s opened a temporary store in Times Square in spring 2006, sales immediately rose in its borough locations and Jersey City and stayed higher until the recession began, Boylson said.

Given the recession – and how expensive it is to live in Manhattan – Boylson believes customers will appreciate Penney’s lower prices, like dresses that top at about $90.

For further information, visit: http://www.klewtv.com/news/business/51223737.html

Some Big Chains Reconstruct to Accomodate Consumers During This Recession

June 22, 2009

Shopping as we know it is on the brink of major change.

Hammered by the recession, some of the nation’s biggest retailers are seizing the moment to reinvent their business strategies. And the impact will mean both sweeping changes in the merchandise on their shelves and subtler alterations, like how many pantyhose to keep in stock.

High-end stores like Neiman Marcus, Saks and Coach will offer more midpriced merchandise. Many chains, including Wal-Mart, will carry less inventory and fewer brands. The likes of Sears and J. C. Penney will put self-service computers in stores so customers can browse collections or buy out-of-stock items. And retailers of all stripes will offer more exclusive merchandise and more attentive customer service.

One of the biggest changes consumers are likely to see is greater personalization and regionalization of merchandise.

An initiative known as “My Macy’s” requires the retailer’s merchandisers and other planners to go into stores each week to learn from the sales staff — who keep logs at the cash registers — what shoppers are requesting, snapping up or complaining about.

For instance, when strapless and bare-shouldered dresses were selling well everywhere except Salt Lake City and Pittsburgh, Macy’s employees in those stores knew the problem was that their customers wanted more modest dresses. So they passed that information on to the merchandisers. Out went the strapless dresses; in came dresses with cap sleeves. And sales went from lackluster to robust.

Under the new system it will not be unusual for a local Macy’s to stock the merchandise customers request, be it wide-width shoes or Sean John suits, and for those offerings to be different from the ones in a Macy’s store 100 miles away.

“I think what Macy’s is embarking on is perhaps the largest transformation in our company in a couple of decades,” said Terry J. Lundgren, president and chief executive.

The Macy’s change is just one example of a wide range of initiatives retailers are pursuing as they struggle to cope with an economy where sales are lower than they were just a few years ago.

At high-end stores, the era of ever-escalating prices on luxury goods appears to be over. In the future, consumers will still be able to buy chic brand names, but at a wider range of prices.

“Our customer loves our brands,” said Stephen I. Sadove, chairman and chief executive of Saks. “They don’t want to trade down to lower brands. But they want more of a range in price within the brands that they love.”

And that is what retailers intend to give them. Burton M. Tansky, president and chief executive of Neiman Marcus Group, told investors on a conference call last week that “we’re working with the designers to try and ease a portion of their collections into a new price range.”

Prices will also be lower at some “affordable luxury” chains, like Coach, which is increasing the proportion of handbags it sells for less than $300. About 50 percent of the company’s handbags will cost $200 to $300, in contrast to about 30 percent of handbags last year.

Another change is that consumers will have fewer brands from which to choose. Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, and PetSmart are just a few of the chains winnowing their brands. As Home Depot’s executive vice president for merchandising, Craig Menear, put it: consumers are “time-starved” and “looking for simplification in the entire shopping experience.”

That may delight minimalists, because it will be easier to find items on the shelves. But it also limits choice.

Another potential drawback for consumers is that stores may run out of stock more quickly than in the past because, as Mr. Lundgren of Macy’s explained, “retailers learned that you can’t get out of the merchandise that you ordered months before.”

“Instead,” he said, “you’re more likely to see retailers ordering fewer of each individual size and taking that risk that they’ll sell out and not capture every sale, rather than the risk of having too much inventory left over to mark down.”

Another trend is on the horizon: seasonal transitions for apparel will probably have shorter lead times. With strapped consumers buying only what they need when they need it, it has occurred to retailers that selling swimsuits to New Yorkers in early March is not necessarily a winning strategy. And so chains are beginning to work with suppliers to shorten the time between ordering and delivering merchandise.

Consumers will also see even more of the exclusive collaborations between retailers and prominent designers that are so prevalent today. That will help distinguish stores as well as avoid price wars because the same items will not be sold at multiple chains.

Yet another change will be the obliteration of any remaining divide between online and in-store shopping.

In Sears stores, “appliance research centers” with computers are enabling customers to compare local competitors’ prices. (If Sears does not offer the best price, it will match the lowest offer and hand over 10 percent of the difference.) Four J. C. Penney stores in Dallas are testing “FindMore” machines the size of arcade games, letting customers see every item J. C. Penney sells and find out if the item they want is in the store or online.

Shopping by cellphone will also become widespread.

“Everything we are developing is with a mind-set that it’s going to be running on a handset,” said J. C. Penney’s chief information officer, Thomas M. Nealon.

Despite all the new technology, consumers will be getting more attention from sales staff. During the last few years, retailers did not have to work hard to separate consumers from their dollars.

But those days are over. More middle-market chains are striving for Nordstrom-quality service to win customers. Even Home Depot has adopted its “most extensive customer service training ever,” its chairman and chief executive, Frank Blake, told investors and retailing analysts last week.

Of course, luxury chains have always featured a high level of attentiveness. But the chains say that in this economy, customers have heightened expectations. Saks, for one, has invested tens of millions of dollars in the last year on software that provides its sales staff easy access to information about client purchases and preferences, so that a returning customer might be greeted by a sales representative who recalls the shopper’s suit size and penchant for Christian Louboutin heels.

Economists and analysts forecast that it will take up to 10 years to return to 2007 levels of consumer spending — which makes now a good time for retailers to re-imagine the future. Paul A. Laudicina, chairman and managing officer of A. T. Kearney, the management consulting firm, noted that major consumer innovations like Neoprene and Teflon came out of the Depression.

Mr. Lundgren pointed out that if consumers were still throwing money around, stores might not want to alter strategies that were still working.

But with today’s recession, he said, “now is the time to aggressively rock the boat.”

For further information, visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/business/20retail.html

Consumers Are Not The Only Ones Cutting Back

June 16, 2009

Consumers aren’t the only ones cutting back.

Retailers are reining in their spending — with most broadline players slashing millions from their budgets as they try to counter withering sales. Although some, such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., continue to pump money into their businesses to grab market share, the majority are drastically slimming down within their business models.

And if consumer spending doesn’t bounce back, retailers will have to start making more drastic and ultimately transformational changes that could reshape the industry, said experts.

Sears Holdings Corp., Macy’s Inc., Dillard’s Inc., J.C. Penney Co., Saks Inc., Nordstrom Inc., and Target Corp. cut a collective $668 million in selling, general and administrative expenses in the first quarter, pushing their SG&A expense down 6.3 percent from a year earlier. That means fewer dollars supporting brands and driving foot traffic, the axing of information technology projects and cramped cross-country plane rides for executives who can’t afford to be seen in first or business class as they lay off workers.

“From travel to supplies to benefits to marketing to information technology, we’re leaving no stone unturned,” said Stephen I. Sadove, chairman and chief executive officer of Saks, which reduced first-quarter expenses by $44 million, more than it planned to cut for the whole year. “How we have always done it is irrelevant. We’re approaching every area of the business asking how should we do it going forward.”

Saks rival Neiman Marcus last week revealed plans to reduce expenses by $125 million a year. “Our team has done an excellent job of decreasing their spend,” said Burt Tansky, president and chief executive officer of Neiman Marcus. “We are undergoing a comprehensive process that we believe has been thoughtful and significant.”

About 60 percent of planned expense reductions already have been realized. Neiman’s cut $38 million from selling, general and administrative expenses in the most recent quarter versus its 2008 counterpart.

Sears, which has 3,900 doors under its namesake and Kmart brands and has been criticized in the last few years for not investing enough in its stores, is the industry’s most aggressive cost cutter. The firm surprised Wall Street with first-quarter earnings after it reduced advertising spending by $107 million and payroll and benefit expenses by $84 million.

Cuts are even being made in the off-price channel, despite the competitive advantage that comes from having a value orientation during the downturn. Earlier this year Stein Mart Inc. laid off 178 assistant managers, while the rest of its managerial staff took a 5 percent pay cut and store associates’ hours were cut by 17 percent. Like other retailers, the company stopped paying shareholders a dividend, eliminated its stock buyback plan and halted contributions to employees’ 401(k) retirement plans.

All of this feeds into a vicious economic cycle, where the slowdown in consumer spending prompts businesses to cut workers, increasing the ranks of the unemployed and further weakening spending. Department stores alone eliminated a total of 10,800 jobs in February, March and April, according to government statistics that adjust for seasonal variations in workforce. Last month, the department store channel actually added 4,500 positions, although specialty stores cut 3,300 jobs.

But to every cost-cutting trend, there are exceptions.

Wal-Mart and, to a lesser extent, Kohl’s Corp., actually spent more in the first quarter, investing in their businesses in hopes of grabbing market share while most of the competition is biding its time and many are slimming down their store portfolios.

Wal-Mart upped its operating, selling, general and administrative expenses by $386 million in the first quarter. That spending increase is almost exactly what Macy’s and Sears, the two biggest cost cutters, stripped away.

“This is still Wal-Mart’s game,” said Dean Hillier, consultant and a partner at A.T. Kearney. “They are definitely taking advantage of the circumstances. The market is certainly heading their way and it seems to be sticking somewhat. The others are in a tougher spot and therefore are having to do what they need to do to eke out their profitability.”

Retailers have tried to hide their newfound austerity from consumers by working on inventory controls and cutting corporate staff while attempting to maintain the shopping experience. But chains are now tiptoeing up to cost cuts and other changes that could change the character of the industry. Both Neiman’s and Saks, for instance, said their customers want to spend less while not switching to other brands, and the retailers are trying to accommodate them by urging brands to develop lower entry-level price points.

“If Saks were to go to a lower price-point item on the same brand, would that reduce the brand impact for Saks as a company?” wondered Hillier. “Retailers are pushed into a position now, quite frankly, where they have to take risks with their business. They’ve got to start placing strategic bets. This is a new reality that retailers are dealing with.”

The next cost-saving step for retailers would entail bigger, deeper cuts and strategic moves, such as the shuttering of whole divisions, he said. That’s already occurred for a number of specialty stores, and last month Abercrombie & Fitch Co. indicated it might join them, saying it was undertaking a strategic review of its fledgling Ruehl unit.

A survey by Credit Suisse showed cash capital spending at 80 retailers fell 14.4 percent last year, the first decline since 2002. Spending by specialty apparel retailers dropped 24.2 percent to $3.71 billion and is slated to fall another 34.8 percent this year. Mall anchors cut expenditures by 22.4 percent to $4.26 billion in 2008 and plan to slash another 37.4 percent this year.

Despite the decline in spending, apparel specialty stores are expected to increase their gross selling space by 1.9 percent this year to 784.2 million square feet, while mall anchors add 1.2 percent for 506 million square feet — even as analysts at Credit Suisse say both sectors already have too much selling space.

“Capacity is not coming out of the soft-lines space fast enough,” Credit Suisse said of the apparel specialty stores. “We believe many retailers in this group are now faced with structural issues, primarily that they have too many stores, and would expect a decrease in square footage in 2010 as retailers come to this realization.”

Chains wanting to save money need not look at just their own operations. They can also take new approaches with their suppliers.

The savings so far, as large as they’ve been, are just the tip of the iceberg, said David McTague, executive vice president of partnered brands at Liz Claiborne Inc.

“They haven’t even started yet; it should be in the billions of dollars,” McTague said at the company’s annual meeting.

Together, he said, retailers and vendors can move product more efficiently from factory to selling floor and better manage inventories.

The financial stress of the moment could help set new directions on both sides of the supply/retail divide.

“Hopefully it means that they’re open to a much more collaborative relationship,” McTague said. “It’s a zero-sum game. All of us are trying to move profit dollars. It’s forcing everyone to be a lot more creative.”

For now, though, major changes appear to be mostly in the future. The more immediate question is whether retailers are cutting wisely. And there’s plenty of room for error.

“Some retailers have cut too far because they’ve cut from the top down,” said Antony Karabus, ceo of Karabus Management, noting a 10 or 15 percent across-the-board cut will trim some areas too much and others not enough.

Spending varies across the industry, meaning each company will have to cut in its own way.

According to the Karabus SG&A Retail Benchmark study, which looked at spending across 68 chains for the fiscal year ended January 2008, merchandising expenses range from 0.8 percent to more than 3 percent of sales. Supply chain costs range anywhere from 1.2 percent to 3.5 percent of sales.

As retailers lay off workers, many are concentrating their regional field staffs; for instance, giving district managers more stores to oversee or eliminating a layer of management altogether, said Karabus.

For department stores the danger is an increasingly national stance when customers want local flavor and attention — which is what Macy’s Inc. is trying to prevent with its My Macy’s program.

“When you cut expenses as a department store, you’ve still got to make sure that you’re staying relevant to your local consumer,” Karabus said. “What you’re seeing with a number of chains is that they’re cutting significantly to become more national.”

For further information, visit: http://www.wwd.com/business-news/stores-cost-cutting-may-transform-retail-2167503#/article/business-news/stores-cost-cutting-may-transform-retail-2167503?page=2

Luxury And Department Stores Lead The Decline

June 6, 2009

Retailers struggle for sales in May only reflected the larger struggle that consumers face. Across the nations job losses are widespread and manufacturing sector continues to shed jobs.

Luxury and department store led the declines in May. Even the discount stores did not escape from the same store sales decline. Teenage retailers and select apparel stores managed to report monthly and year-to-date sales increase.

Abercrombie Fitch reported the worst same store sales decline of 28% followed by losses of 26.6% at Saks and 13.1% at Nordstrom.

Aeropostale sales increased 19% and at Ross gained 4%. The Gap, Target and Costco reported more than 6% decline in sales.

Target Corporation net retail sales in May decreased 2.3% to $4.46 billion from a prior year month. The comparable sales in May fell 6.1%.

Wal-Mart Stores will no longer declare monthly same store sales but will provide quarterly same store sales increase.

Department Stores Sales Decline Accelerate

Macy’s, Inc May same store sales fell 9.1%. Total sales declined 9.5% to $1.74 billion compared to $1.93 billion for the month of year ago.

For the year to date, total sales were $6.94 billion, a decrease of 9.5% from $7.67 billion from the year ago period. For the year-to-date same-store sales fell 9.1%.

Macy’s online sales in April gained 12.2% and for the year surged 15.2%.

J. C. Penney Company, Inc. reported comparable store sales decreased 8.2% for the four week period ended May 30 compared to a decline of 4.4% from a year ago month. Total sales in April declined 6.7%.

Sales for the first thirteen weeks declined 6.1% compared to a fall of 4.5% and comparable sales decreased 7.7% compared to a fall of 6.6% in the quarter a year ago.

For the five-week period ending July 4, 2009, the company expects same store sales to fall between 9% and 12%.

Kohl’s Corporation reported total sales for the four-week period ended May 30, 2009 increased 4.1% from a year ago. On a comparable basis same store sales fell 0.4% in the month.

Total sales for the year to-date rose 1.3% and on a comparable store basis, sales for the year decreased 3.2%.

Luxury Sales Drop the Most

Dillard’s, Inc. reported sales for the four weeks ended May 30, 2009 declined 14% to $430 million compared to a year ago period. Comparable same store sales fell 12%.

For the seventeen weeks ended May 30, sales decreased 15% to $1.47 billion from a year ago period. For the period, comparable same store sales declined 13%.

Saks Inc. total sales for the four weeks to May 30 decreased 25.8% to $166.1 million compared to $223.9 million in the month last year. Comparable store sales fell 26.6% for the month.

For the year-to-date ended May 30, 2009 total sales declined 26.7% to $781.1 million compared to $1,066.4 million in the prior year period. Comparable same store sales decreased 27.4% for the fiscal year.

Nordstrom, Inc. preliminary sales for the four-week period ended May 30 decreased 8.7% to $653 million from $716 million in the month a year ago. Same store sales fell 13.1% in the month.

Preliminary year-to-date sales decreased 9.1% to $2.36 billion compared to $2.59 billion in the first quarter 2008. For the year-to-date same store sales decreased 13.2%.

Teenage Apparel Retailers, the Only Gainers

Aeropostale, Inc. net sales for the four-week period ended May 30 increased 30% to $132.9 million from $102.3 million in the month a year ago. Same store sales increased 19% for the month meeting the sales rise in the month a year ago.

Year to date total net sales increased 23% to $541.0 million from $438.7 million in the year ago period. Year to date same store sales increased 13% compared to increase of 9% in the period of year ago.

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. for the four-week period ended May 30 sales decreased 2% to $195.5 million from $200.0 million in the month a year ago.

Comparable same store sales decreased 7% in the month compared to a declined of 9% in the month a year ago.

Total year-to-date in the seventeen week period decreased 4% to $807.5 million compared to $840.4 million in the year ago period. Comparable same stores sales decreased 9% for the year compared to the same period last year.

Management reiterating guidance of second quarter earnings per share to be 12 cent to 15 cent compared to 29 cent last year.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. reported net sales in the four-week period ended May 30 fell 22% to $182.1 million from $233.1 million prior month period. Comparable store sales decreased 28%. May direct-to-consumer total net sales decreased 10% to $15.6 million from a year ago month.

Year-to-date sales decreased 23% to $794.2 million from $1.033 billion in the year ago period. Comparable year-to-date sales fell 29%. For the year-to-date direct-to-consumer net sales decreased 19% to $64.7 million.

The Buckle, Inc. comparable sales in the months increased 13.4% from a year ago.

Net sales in the month increased 19.2% to $60.6 million from net sales of $50.8 million for the same period of year ago.

Year-to-date seventeen-week period comparable store net sales for the period ended May 30, 2009 increased 16.7% from the period a year ago. Net sales for the seventeen-week period ended May 30, 2009 increased 23.3% to $260.2 million from net sales of $211.1 million for the prior year period.

The Cato Corporation sales in the four-week period ending in May 30 decreased 3% to $78.1 million compared to $80.5 million for the four week period ended May 31, 2008. Comparable store sales for the month fell 3%.

Sales for the seventeen weeks ended May 30, 2009 increased 3% to $316.2 million from $306.3 million for the period of year ago. Year-to-date comparable store sales decreased 1% compared to the prior year.

The Children’s Place Retail Stores, Inc net sales in four-week period ending on May 30 decreased 7% to $101.7 million from $109.4 million a year ago. Comparable store sales for May decreased 9% compared to 12% increase in the month year ago.

Comparable store sales for May in the U.S. fell 9%, in Canada decreased 7% and online sales rose 1%.

The Gap, Inc. net sales declined 5% to $1.03 billion for the four-week period ended on May 30 compared with net sales of $1.09 billion for the same period a year ago.

The comparable store sales for May decreased 6% compared to fall of 14% in the prior year month.

Comparable store sales at Gap North America locations declined 11%, at Banana Republic North America fell 14%, at Old Navy North America rose 3% and at international locations fell 7%.

Year-to-date seventeen-week period ended May 30, 2009 net sales fell 7% to $4.16 billion compared with net sales of $4.47 billion in the year ago month and comparable sales in the year-to-date declined 7% and fell 12% in the quarter a year ago.

Hot Topic, Inc. reported comparable sales decreased 6.3% for four weeks period ended May 30, 2009. Net sales decreased 3.1% to $33.5 million compared to same period of year ago.

Destination Maternity Corp, formerly Mothers Work, Inc. net sales in May decreased 5.3% to $51.3 million from $54.2 million a year ago. Comparable store sales decreased 5.4% in the period compared to prior year month.

Limited Brands, Inc. comparable store sales fell 7% to $618.7 million for the five weeks ended May 30, 2009.

The company reported for the seventeen-week comparable store sales decreased 7% to $2.34 billion.

Stein Mart, Inc. comparable store sales in May rose 0.2%. Total sales fell 2.8% from a year ago month to $105.4 million.

Stage Stores, Inc. net sales in four-week period ending May 30 decreased 4.7% to $116.8 million from $122.6 million a year ago. Comparable store sales for May decreased 7.2% compared to 0.1% increase in the month year ago.

For the year-to-date comparable store sales fell 8.6% to $450.3 million from $476.1 million from year ago.

Discount Apparel Sales Sustain Momentum

The TJX Companies, Inc. May sales increased 4% to $1.49 billion.

For the seventeen-week period to May 30 sales increased 1% to $5.84 billion from a year ago. Comparable store sales for four-week period ended May 30, 2009 rose 5% and for seventeen-week period to May 30 comparable store sales increased 3% from year ago.

Ross Stores, Inc. May sales increased 10% to $564 million compared to $513 million a year ago. Same store sales rose 4% in the month.

For the seventeen weeks ended May 30, 2009 sales increased 9% to $2.26 billion from $2.07 billion in the nine weeks ended May 31, 2008. Comparable store sales increased 3%.

For further information, visit: http://www.123jump.com/market-update/Luxury,-Department-Stores-May-Sales-Weakest/33231/61