Tuesday Morning targets mom and daughter

DALLAS — Enjoying its ninth consecutive quarter of comparable store gains, Tuesday Morning touted several of its successful initiatives taking place over the past three-month period, during its first quarter earnings conference call.

Through its e-mail program, E-Treasures, the company recently discovered it is attracting a younger consumer and said it would continue to pursue her.

"Our e-mail program is working out nicely, and we see a younger customer signing up," said Kathleen Mason, president and CEO. "And we're addressing this younger, trendier customer at our stores."

The closeout chain's buyers have been assigned to shop for product specific to this younger consumer, "while not ignoring our core consumer," Mason continued. "If you go shop by brand, you'll see the brands Mom will buy, as well as brands that her daughter or daughter-in-law will buy, by category."

Also, the company said pricing pressures have now "diminished" since last year in some key product categories — "especially luggage and high thread-count sheets," Mason said.

During the first quarter, store traffic rose 2 percent and the average ticket decreased slightly by 0.2 percent.

Also during the period, Tuesday Morning opened 18 new stores in new and existing markets and closed one unit, bringing the current total store count to 594 in 42 states.