Struggling retailer Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. of Anaheim posted a 9.4% drop in same-store sales for August, nearly twice as bad as Wall Street had expected.
Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc., Orange County’s other mall retailer, saw an 8.7% rise in sales at stores open at least a year in August, helped by back-to-school shoppers.
At Pacific Sunwear, analysts were looking for a 4.6% drop.
Pacific Sunwear blamed the drop on its d.e.m.o. chain, which sells hip hop style clothes. D.e.m.o. saw a 14% drop in same-store sales for the month.
The company’s larger PacSun surfwear chain saw an 8.9% drop in same-store sales for the month.
Total sales for the four weeks ended on Saturday fell 4% to $169 million.
Wet Seal beat Wall Street’s estimate of a 7% gain in same-store sales.
The company’s total sales for the four weeks ended Saturday were $51.2 million, up 12.7%.
The company opened four Wet Seal stores during the past four weeks. It now has 318 Wet Seal Stores and 92 Arden B stores.
Wet Seal said it expects a same-store sales increase in the low- to mid-single digits for September.
