Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 8, 1994 TAG: 9404080219
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Chain-store sales results reported Thursday were ``well above expectations so far, and expectations were high,'' said Catherine Cooper, retailing analyst for Kemper Securities in Chicago.
Wal-Mart sales were ``outstanding'' - up 15 percent - and department stores showed overall healthy gains, she said.
Part of the gain can be attributed to the fact that Easter was in early April this year, analysts said. That tends to boost purchases of candy, apparel and other items related to the holiday.
Some purchases also may have been postponed by bad weather in January and February, Kelly said.
Spring fashion buying may have been particularly affected by the weather. Although stores begin stocking spring clothes as early as January, ``it's hard to be excited about it when you've got to slog through the snow to get to the store,'' he said.
Weather also played a part in year-over-year comparisons, because last year's freakish weather - including the so-called ``storm of the century'' that hit the East Coast in mid-March - depressed last year's sales.
Among other factors, the gain in apparel sales suggests women are more receptive to this year's spring fashions, Cooper said.
Sales ``look pretty good, which is pretty much as expected,'' said Karen Sack, retailing analyst at Standard and Poor's in New York.
But because of the calendar shift and weather factors, ``you do have to look at March and April as a whole,'' she said.
Here are sales reports by major chains operating in Western Virginia. The numbers include both raw sales figures for March and the percentage of change in same-store sales - sales at stores open at least a year.
Best Products Co. Inc.'s sales increased 8.8 percent, to $101 million. Comparable stores were up 8.3 percent.
The Bombay Co. Inc. reported sales of $24.6 million, up 29 percent. Same-store sales increased 17 percent.
Charming Shoppes Inc., which operates Fashion Bug and Fashion Bug Plus, said sales were up 15 percent to $122.8 million; comparable stores increased 6 percent.
Circuit City Stores Inc. had record sales for March of $346.7 millions, up 32 percent. Same-store sales increased 14 percent.
The Dress Barn Inc. reported sales of $45.7 million, up 38 percent overall and 23 percent at comparable stores.
Family Dollar Stores Inc. had the highest sales and net income of any second quarter in its history. Sales were $398.8 million, up 11.9 percent overall and 1.9 percent in comparable stores.
Hechinger Co. had sales of $214.2 million, up 26 percent overall and 11 percent in comparable stores.
Heilig-Meyers Co. said sales increased 46.1 percent to $77.3 million. Sales in comparable stores increased 11.5 percent.
Hills Stores Co. reported same-store sales up 16.4 percent and total sales up 15 percent, to $162.7 million.
The Limited Inc., which owns Limited, Express, Victoria's Secret, Lane Bryant, Structure, Limited Too, Bath & Body Words, Abercrombie & Fitch, Henri Bendel, Cacique and Penhaligon's, reported an increase of 12 percent to $600.4 million. Comparable-store sales increased 7 percent.
Lowe's Cos. Inc. reported sales of $551.8 million, up 55 percent for all stores and 33 percent for comparable stores.
May Department Stores Co., which owns Hecht's and Payless ShoeSource, reported sales of $1.02 billion, up 18.7 percent. Comparable-store sales were up 14.8 percent.
Woolworth Corp. reported that domestic comparable store sales rose 10.5 percent but were down 3.9 percent in foreign stores. Excluding sales of the stores in the repositioning program and all of the Woolco stores from both 1994 and 1993, total sales for the five weeks increased 9.7 percent to $727 million.
Staff writer Sandra Brown Kelly contributed to this story.
by CNB