No one is quite sure what to expect from this year’s back-to-school shopping season.
Sales at Becker Surfboards, including stores in Corona del Mar, Huntington Beach and Mission Viejo, have been hot and cold, said Dave Hollander, president of Torrance-based Becker.
“If it hadn’t been for the last five weeks, I’d have said sales would be down 20% for back-to-school,” Hollander said. “We had a bad first quarter. But June turned it around and July has been crazy good.”
The back-to-school season starts in earnest in late July and runs through mid-September.
The blasting hot temperatures, soaring gas prices and rising interest rates have put pressure on retailers and clouded their ability to predict sales. The summer has been a mixed bag, particularly at teen retailers.
Same-stores sales at Hot Topic Inc. dropped 7.2% in July. Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. recorded a 10.6% decline. Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc. bucked the trend, with same-store sales rising 6.4% after a weak June when they were off by 4%.
It’s not just regional chains that are showing mixed results. Gap Inc. reported a 4% drop in July same-store sales, though Abercrombie & Fitch Co. saw a 4% gain.
Nationally, same-store retail sales bounced back in July from a weaker June.
For more on this story, see the August 7 issue of the Business Journal.
