Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc. beat Wall Street expectations for September same-stores, the latest monthly gain for the resurgent retailer.
Orange County’s other mall retailer, Anaheim’s Pacific Sunwear of California Inc., confirmed a slide in same-store sales for the month, which it first disclosed earlier this week with the departure of Chief Executive Seth Johnson.
Wet Seal, which operates the Wet Seal chain for girls and Arden B. for women, said sales at stores open at least a year rose 5.8% last month.
Analysts were expecting 5.5%.
Overall sales, including stores open less than a year, grew 9% to $52.3 million from a year earlier.
Wet Seal is “optimistic about business for October,” Chief Executive Joel Waller said.
The company expects same-store sales to grow by the low single-digits in October. Wet Seal also reaffirmed its profit and sales outlook for the third quarter.
Pacific Sunwear, which runs surfwear and urban clothing stores, continued its slump last month.
Same-store sales fell 2.4%, though not as steeply as analysts had expected. Wall Street predicted a 4%.
Overall sales for the five weeks ended Sept. 30 rose 4.2% to $118.4 million.
The slump in September same-store sales, the latest in a string for Pacific Sunwear, led to Johnson’s resignation on Monday.
