MARCH 03, 2004 -- Both Foot Locker and Pacific Sunwear were predicting pink as the color story for footwear this spring. Foot Locker compared pink to the successful brown sneaker look this past fall. Pac Sun said pink w/white, gray or black will be very hot driver of its girls' footwear business. Footwear has been a successful category at d.e.mo. Since footwear was introduced by PacSun last year, it has been adding two percentage points to d.e.mo.'s monthly comps.
Collegiate Pacific executed an agreement with Amazon.com. Under terms of the agreement, Collegiate Pacific will sell its products through the Amazon.com Sports & Outdoors store. Adam Blumenfeld, president of Collegiate Pacific, stated: "This relationship with Amazon.com will formally introduce the Collegiate Pacific brand and family of products to millions of online shoppers. The consumer-direct channel is a new and untapped market for our products. Amazon.com allows Collegiate Pacific to enter this space without exposure to the traditional costs and burdens associated with direct marketing to millions of potential consumer accounts. The agreement allows Collegiate Pacific to remain focused on its core competencies of product design; direct off-line marketing, and 'quick-ship' distribution."
Whitaker Securities initiated coverage of The Sportsman's Guide with a NT outperform rating and gave a target price of $28.
David Beckham officially unveiled his new personal logo at the adidas-Salomon global headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany, and extended his contract with the brand until 2008. The logo's design was inspired by Beckham's trademark free kicks, and will appear on selected adidas products offered later this year.
Pacific Sunwear of California reported that total sales for the four weeks of February were $67.7 million, an increase of 26.8%. Company same-store sales increased 14.1%. Comps by week were: One, +5%; two, +15%; three, +22%; and four, +15%. PacSun same store sales up 14.8%, with footwear and accessories up in double-digits. d.e.m.o. same-store sales up 10.3%. In February 2002, comps were up 49%.
Genesco CEO Hal N. Pennington, "During Q4 Journeys' same-store sales were flat, footwear-unit comparable-sales rose 6% and margins came in above our expectations, due primarily to lower-than-expected markdowns. So far in the new fiscal year, Journeys' comparable-sales trends have improved, the decline in average selling price appears to be moderating, the retail environment seems to be improving and Journeys merchants are enthusiastic about fresh, new products in the marketplace. We believe that all of this bodes well for us in the new year. Comparable-store sales in the fourth quarter in the Underground Station/Jarman Group fell about 8%, compared to an increase of 9% last year, with Underground Station stores again performing better than the Jarman stores. As expected, the business was affected by a decline in demand for Euro-casual and utility-inspired products. Underground Station has implemented a number of initiatives to take advantage of the opportunities we see in its women's and fashion athletic businesses and to improve its overall position in the marketplace. Underground Station's comparable-sales for the quarter to date have improved from fourth quarter levels. We have made the strategic decision to close 34 Jarman stores over the next 12 months and convert the remaining 62 stores to Underground Station stores as quickly as it is financially feasible to do so, subject
