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Wet Seal March Sales Fall 11.4%

Foothill Ranch-based mall retailer Wet Seal Inc. saw sales at stores open at least a year fall 11.4% in March, worse than the 10% drop Wall Street expected.

The downturn marks a return to double-digit declines in same-store sales after February’s 6.6% drop, which came in better than the 12% analysts were looking for.

In January, same-store sales were down 14.7% and were off 12.5% in December.

Total sales for the month fell 12% to $51.2 million.

Part of the downturn was blamed on the move of Easter to April from March a year ago.

The company runs 410 Wet Seal stores selling clothes for teen girls and 85 Arden B. stores for young women.

In a switch, the company’s long-struggling Arden B. chain did better than Wet Seal in March.

Same-store sales at Wet Seal stores fell 12.5%, while sales at Arden B. were down 6.3%.

Lower prices at Arden B. since January drove the lessened sales drop, according to Chief Executive Ed Thomas.

Lower prices and improved sales allowed the company to boost the amount of clothes it had on hand at Arden B., he said.

Thomas is leading Wet Seal through its second turnaround this decade.

He has helped Wet Seal cut costs and re-emerge as a “fast fashion” retailer by appealing to trend savvy consumers looking for value.

The effort helped Wet Seal post results for the three months through January that were better than expected.

But the company, like other retailers, faces the worst pullback in consumer spending in recent memory.

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