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Three chains record sales gains in July

By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, August 10, 2003

Fort Worth, Texas — Three publicly held furniture retailers enjoyed July sales gains, led by another double-digit jump at The Bombay Company.

Pier 1 Imports and Havertys reported smaller increases.

Bombay's same-store sales for the four weeks ended Aug. 2 were up 24% from the same period a year earlier, and total sales rose 30% to $39.5 million.

James Carreker, chairman and chief executive officer, said both furniture and non-furniture sales grew at double-digit rates.

"July sales exceeded our expectations, with our strongest weeks falling in the second half of the month," he said. "Our strategy of driving sales of fashion-right product at very competitive prices continues to result in strong sales increases as we seek to reclaim market share."

Pier 1, also based in Fort Worth, said total sales rose 4.9% to $129.6 million, despite a 4.1% decline in same-store sales. Marvin Girouard, chairman and CEO, called the results "disappointing. Weekend traffic in July was down and the expected pick-up later in the month did not materialize."

This month's same-store sales are expected to be down 3% to 6% from a year ago, versus an 8.6% gain in August 2002, he said.

Atlanta-based Havertys said total sales rose 8.3% to $62.9 million in July, with a same-store gain of 1.1%. Clarence Smith, president and CEO, said the comparisons were challenging since July 2002 sales had been relatively good, with a 7.5% same-store gain over the previous year.

"It is encouraging that the month of August has started out very well, with strong selling activity thus far in the stores and increased deliveries being made to our customers' homes," Smith said.

He said the 113-store chain had completed the remodeling of two Florida stores in July. No more renovations are planned this year, and no more openings are scheduled until the fourth quarter, he said.

Retailers report July sales
Dollar amounts in millions
Company	Sales	Change	Same-store change
1. For the four weeks ended Aug. 2, 2003. Source: Retailers
Pier 1 Imports¹	$129.6	4.9%	-4.1%
Havertys	$62.9	8.3%	1.1%
The Bombay Company¹	$39.5	30.0%	24.0%

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