Home lags as Dillard’s logs quarterly turnaround

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 11/14/2006 12:40:00 PM

Little Rock,Ark.– Home furnishings sales lagged the general trend at Dillard’s, which reported third-quarternet income of $13.6 million – a major turnaround from the net loss of $2.7 million for the same period one year ago.

Net sales were virtually unchanged, holding at $1.7 billion, as comparable store sales declined 2%. Dillard's achieved gross margin improvement of 140 basis points, which the company attributed fewer markdowns and to better inventory control – comp inventory declined 3%.

“Sales of juniors' and children's apparel and decorative home merchandise were significantly below trend for the period,” the 327-unit department store operator said.