Susan Dickenson

Bed Bath & Beyond 3Q sales up 10.8%; Haverty's Dec. sales down 4.3%; Lillian Vernon layoffs
January 4, 2008

Bed Bath & Beyond's net sales for the fiscal third quarter of 2007 were $1.795 billion, an increase of 10.8% from net sales of $1.619 billion reported in the 2006 fiscal third quarter. Comparable store sales grew 0.8%, compared with a 4.6% increase in last year's fiscal third quarter. Net sales for the fiscal 9 months ended Dec. 1, 2007 were $5.116 billion, an increase of 10.7% from net sales of $4.622 billion reported in the corresponding period a year ago. Comparable store sales for the fiscal 9 months increased by 1.5%, compared with an increase of 4.8% in last year's fiscal 9 months. As of Dec.1, 2007, the company operated a total of 946 stores, including 859 Bed Bath & Beyond stores (28 of which were opened during the fiscal third quarter) in 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Also as of that date, buybuy BABY operated 8 stores in 4 states and Harmon operated 40 stores in 3 states (1 of which was opened during the fiscal third quarter) under the names Harmon and Harmon Face Values. Since the beginning of the fiscal fourth quarter on Dec. 2, 2007, 2 additional Bed Bath & Beyond stores, the first store in Canada, have been opened.

Haverty Furniture Companies Inc. reported a decrease of 4.3% in sales for the period ended Dec. 31, 2007 with sales of $70.8 million compared with $73.9 million in December 2006. On a comparable-store basis, December sales decreased 7.4%. Sales for the twelve months of 2007 totaled $784.6 million versus $859.1 million for 2006, representing a decrease of 8.7%. On a comparable-store basis, sales decreased 10.6% for the twelve months. Havertys is a full-service home furnishings retailer with 123 showrooms in 17 states in the Southern and Midwestern regions of the country.

Virginia Beach, Va. -- Gifts and housewares cataloger Lillian Vernon laid off about 25% of its full-time workforce on Dec. 20. According to a report by Jim Tierney in MultiChannel Merchant, president/CEO Michael Muoio attributes the layoffs to postal rate increases, the decreasing value of the U.S. dollar, and sales that fell short of company expectations.

Philadelphia - Urban Outfitters Inc. reported an increase in sales of 28% for November and December, at $356 million. Direct-to-consumer sales grew 39%, with strong growth in the Anthropologie, Free People and Urban Outfitters  brands. Anthropologie same-store sales for the two-month period increased 16%. Urban Outfitters opened 35 new stores in the fiscal year including 16 Urban Outfitters, 12 Anthropologie and seven Free People stores.

Overstock.com Inc. co-founder Jason Lindsey resigned as chief operating officer, president and board member of the company effective Dec. 31, 2007. Lindsey, the third board member to resign from Overstock in 2007, will oversee projects at the online retailer on a part-time basis. Overstock was founded in 1999 and is based in Salt Like City.

Cooking.com Inc., an online retailer of kitchen and housewares products has received $7 million in financing from ORIX Venture Finance to expand operations and develop community content and private label products. The retailer operates the Web sites Cooking.com, FoodNetworkStore.com, StarbucksStore.com, KitchenEtc.com, PillsburyStore.com and BettyCrockerStore.com. The funds will be used to improve the company's community content, expand operations and continue its private-label product development.

Posted by Susan Dickenson on January 4, 2008 | Comments (0)