Right Start Reduces Losses After Closures

After closing eight stores during the first half of 1998, Right Start Inc. reported reduced sales and narrowed losses for the six months that ended Aug. 1.

For the six months, sales at the company, which markets products for infants and young children, were $17.8 million, against nearly $20 million for the same period in 1997.

For the 1998 period, the company posted a net loss of $2.3 million or 23 cents per share, compared with a net loss of nearly $4 million or 46 cents per share last year.

The Westlake Village-based company has embraced a new marketing strategy that involves closing stores in regional malls that have performed poorly and concentrating instead on “suburban street locations.”

The company now operates 35 stores but has announced plans to open eight new suburban stores by year’s end in locations including Mission Viejo, Santa Barbara and San Francisco.