Pier 1 December Same-Store Sales Up 10.3%

January 5, 2011  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on January 6, 2011 Fort Worth, Texas-based Pier 1 Imports  (NYSE: PIR) reported December same-store sales increase of 10.3 percent for the five-week period ended Jan. 1.

That compares to an increase of 8.6 percent jump in the same month in the previous year.

The home furnishings retailer attributed the increase to high traffic, a better conversion rate and stronger average ticket merchandise margins in the month with less promotional and clearance pricing compared to the previous year.

"We are pleased with the strength in our December holiday sales results -- traffic, conversion and average ticket were all up over last year and continue to be the forces driving our sales increases," said Alex W. Smith, president and CEO. "Merchandise margins remained strong in December due to less promotional and clearance pricing than last year. We now expect merchandise margins to be at least 57.5 percent of sales for the fourth quarter, up from our previous expectation of 57.0 percent of sales. Looking forward to the spring and summer selling seasons, we are very confident in our new assortments which start to arrive in stores this week as the seasonal clearance event winds down."

The retailer will announce fourth quarter sales for the quarter ending Feb. 26 on March 3. Pier 1 will release fourth quarter and fiscal 2011 results April 7.