Jo-Ann Stores gets house in order
By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 8/28/2008 2:25:00 PM
Hudson, Ohio – Coming off its eighth consecutive quarter of year-over-year earnings improvement, Jo-Ann Stores continued to project some softness in its home décor and seasonal categories during the fall season – but meanwhile trimmed its loss as sales grew.
Net loss for the quarter ended Aug.2 was $11.7 million, or 47 cents per share, vs. a net loss of $18.4 million, or 76 cents per share for the same quarter last year. Sales of $403.0 million were up 3.7% from $388.5 million last year. Same-store sales increased 3.3% -- and that was against the strong comparison of a 7.0% increase one year ago.
During the 768-unit fabric and crafts chain’s second quarter earnings call late yesterday, chairman, president and ceo Darrell Webb lauded Jo-Ann’s new fall assortment. “Our team continues to bring in better quality, better looking, and more compelling fall seasonal merchandise. I think fall looks a lot better compared to fall a year ago.”
Jo-Ann Stores’ “reservations” for the home décor and seasonal fall categories, he said, are based on the “consumer’s behavior. With the economy being how it is, I think [these are among] the first categories – seasonal and home décor merchandise – that people can defer until a future date.”
There were bright spots related to home in Q2. Fabrics and sewing notion goods, especially those related to quilting, resulted in positive same store sales. Jo-Ann’s sewing business – representing 51% of the company’s sales volume in the quarter -- increased 4.5% on a same-store sales basis. Its non-sewing business represented 49.1% of total sales for the period and grew1.3% on a same-store sales basis.
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