Sport Chalet loss narrows in fiscal third quarter
Sporting-goods chain Sport Chalet Inc. reported a narrower fiscal third-quarter loss Wednesday and said total sales increased slightly, reflecting an improvement in its online and team sales divisions.
The La Canada Flintridge retailer posted a $0.9-million loss for the three months ended Dec. 26 compared with a loss of $3.8 million in the same period a year earlier. Sales rose 0.6% to $95.8 million.
At stores open at least a year — an important measure of a retailer’s success because it excludes store openings and closings — sales fell 0.4%. Sport Chalet said the drop was because of a reduction in promotional activity and continuing economic weakness.
“Although macroeconomic conditions in our markets continued to be difficult, we were pleased with the continued growth of our team sales and e-commerce divisions, the improved strength in gross profit margins and the reduction in borrowings under our credit facility,” Chief Executive Craig Levra said in a statement. “We went back to doing business the Sport Chalet way.”
Sport Chalet, founded in 1959, was hit hard by the recession. The company has 55 stores in California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah, a region that includes some of the nation’s worst-hit housing markets. Its premium snowboards, camping gear and athletic apparel have been a tough sell in recent years, even at reduced prices.
To turn the company around, Sport Chalet has been renegotiating rent on existing stores, deferring store openings, working to improve inventory management and reducing other expenses.
The company reported its third-quarter earnings after the markets closed. During regular trading, its Class A shares fell 7 cents, or 2.9%, to $2.38.
