Havertys, Pier 1 report sales declines in December
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, January 22, 2007
Atlana — Havertys and Pier 1 Imports limped out of 2006 with sales declines in December.
Atlanta-based Havertys reported sales of $73.9 million, down 6.5% from the same month a year earlier. Same-store sales fell 9.2%
Pier 1 said its sales for the five weeks ended Dec. 30 were $242.5 million, a decline of 10.9% from the comparable period in 2005. Same-store sales fell 10.7%.
"The economic environment for residential furniture sales continues to be difficult," said Havertys President and CEO Clarence Smith. "Total written sales for December were approximately 3% lower than in 2005. Our business on both a written and delivered basis was relatively flat during the first half of December and grew weaker in the second half of the month."
He said sales activity has remained weak into 2007, but the company has maintained its gross profit margins.
Smith noted that the 120-store chain had two fewer delivery days in December 2006 than it did in the same month a year earlier.
"We chose to eliminate one delivery day due to improved service capabilities and lower demand, and the second day was lost due to calendar differences," he said.
For the year, Havertys said sales of $859.1 million were up 3.8% from 2005 and same-store sales rose 1.8%.
Smith also said the company has assumed the lease of a former Mastercraft store in Rockville, Md., which will be the seventh Havertys in greater Washington.
At Fort Worth, Texas-based Pier 1, chairman and CEO Marvin Girouard said December started on a positive note but didn't sustain momentum.
"Although early December sales trends, driven primarily by holiday-related items, were better than we had experienced in prior months, sales of our core home furnishings related items did not improve," he said.
Sales for the first 10 months of Pier 1's fiscal year totaled $1.39 billion, a decline of 9.8% from the same period the previous year. Same-store sales fell 11.4%.
