Athletic apparel sales posted a sequential acceleration in the athletic specialty channel; a slight positive in advance of the FL quarter. Total industry sales ticked slightly lower, however, showing a continuation of the volatility that we started to see several weeks back. One factor that keeps us from ringing any alarm bells given volatility in other channels is the sheer strength in ASPs across the board. That continued in the recent week.
Lastly, on a regional basis New England was a clear negative standout as the only region to report a sales decline last week down -12% reflecting a saturated weekend with the Mid-Atlantic and South Central outperforming up +16% and +14% respectively – not good for DKS despite commentary yesterday that they “have seen a return to expected sales performance” and better on the margin for HIBB.
Casey Flavin
Director