Due to unseasonably dry winter weather, Sport Chalet Inc. reported a 2% decrease in comparable store sales in Q3, ended January 1st. Net sales for fiscal 2011 saw an increase of $1.4 million dollars, with non-winter categories and online sales hiking 6.6% and 14.5% respectively. Online sales of winter related merchandise decreased 13.0% while sales of non-winter categories increased 30.9%, and the company’s net loss for the quarter grew to $1.0 million from a net loss of $900,000, for the quarter ended Dec. 26, 2010.
“After three consecutive quarters of positive and sequential improvements in our comparable store sales, the unseasonably warm and dry winter weather we experienced in the third quarter impacted this trend and caused a 2.0 percent decrease in comparable store sales,” said Chairman and CEO Craig Levra. “We are working diligently to minimize the negative effects of the weather while capitalizing on the merchandise categories that respond well to warm and dry conditions.”
For the nine months ending Jan. 1, 2012, net sales increased 1.4%, from 264.3 million to $268.0 million, primarily due to a comparable store sales increase of 1.0 percent, an online sales increase of 26.1 percent, and a calendar shift increase of $4.0 million. This calender shift placed the week following Christmas within Q3, as opposed to its previous inclusion in Q4.
The company’s net loss for the nine months, ending Jan. 1, 2012, was reduced to $1.3 million, or 9 cents per share, from a net loss of $3.3 million, or 23 cents per share, for the nine months ended Dec. 26, 2010.
