The Buckle, Inc. (NYSE:BKE) has been continuing with its sluggish comparable-store sales (comps) performance this year. Comps for the five-week period ended Oct 1, 2016, fell 15.5% year over year, continuing the trend of decline – 14.8% in August, 10.9% in July, 10.6% in June, 11% in May, 13.2% in April, 11.8% in March, 8.9% in February and 11.3% in January.
The company generated net sales of $82.9 million in September, down 14.8% year over year. Notably, net sales decreased 14% in August, 9.8% in July, 10.1% in June, 10.4% in May, 12.3% in April, 11% in March, 7.7% in February and 10.1% in January.
Sales at the company’s Men's category tumbled 9.5% year over year. This category contributed nearly 44.5% to Buckle’s September sales. Sales in the Women’s category, which represented 55.5% of the company’s monthly sales, slumped 18.5% year over year. Buckle has not been able to turn the performance of its struggling Women’s business around.
On a combined basis, accessory sales, which constituted nearly 8.5% of the company’s September sales, dropped 18%, while footwear sales, which accounted for almost 6.5% of net sales, plummeted 20.5%.
Comps for the 35-week period ended Oct 1, 2016, plunged 12.1%, while net sales over the same time frame fell 11.4% to $625.8 million from $706.2 million recorded in the year-ago period.
As of Oct 6, 2016, Buckle operated 470 retail stores across 44 states.
Apart from Buckle, Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) , L Brands, Inc. (NYSE:LB) and Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) came out with their comparable sales results for the month of September, registering an increase of 1%, 3% and 6.3%, respectively.
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