Jim Conroy last November left Boot Barn Holdings after building it into a national brand where revenue increased five-fold to $1.7 billion.
Not to worry—replacement John Hazen has the Irvine-based retailer galloping to new heights.
The company on July 31 reported fiscal first quarter sales jumped 19% to $504 million, topping the average analyst estimate of $495 million. The company reported same store sales, a key industry metric that eliminates revenue from new stores, climbed 9.4% during the quarter that ended June 28.
“Demand was broad-based, with strength across all major merchandise categories and geographies,” Hazen said in a statement announcing the results.
The company looks well on track to surpassing $2 billion in sales this fiscal year and maintained its goal of nearly doubling its store count to more than 900.
It was Hazen’s first quarter as the permanent CEO. After Conroy’s departure, Hazen, who joined the company in 2018 as its chief digital officer, held the reins on an interim basis until it became permanent in May.
Wall Street applauded the results, sending the shares to an all-time high of $183.60 during midday trading on Aug. 1. The shares have doubled from a 52-week low of $86.17 in April. At press time, the shares traded at $167.58 and a $5.1 billion market cap (NYSE: BOOT).
Furthermore, the company boosted its fiscal revenue forecast to $2.1 billion to $2.18 billion, representing annual growth of 10% to 14%. In May, it had predicted $2.07 billion to $2.15 billion.
The ‘Country Lifestyle Retail’ Category
When outlining the retailer’s recent momentum, analysts regularly connect Boot Barn’s niche market to the current popularity of country music and fashion.
Baird said Boot Barn is poised for growth “as a highly differentiated specialty retailer” that “commands a dominant market position” in the apparel industry. The firm noted that “country lifestyle retail” is a newer category that is underserved by its competitors.
Jefferies said in July that “the business continues to benefit from a surge in country music popularity,” citing Apple Music’s list of the U.S. Top 100.
“That said, we remain confident in the business outlook, as BOOT’s core customer base remains stable and new customer acquisition continues (supported by omnichannel efforts and marketing),” Jefferies Equity Analyst Corey Tarlowe said.
Jefferies describes Boot Barn as today’s “largest and fastest-growing lifestyle retail chain devoted to western and work-related footwear, apparel and accessories in the U.S.”
“The Most Compelling Aspect”
Despite Hazen’s expertise in online sales, the company’s keeping a focus as a “stores-first” company.
It opened 14 new stores in the first quarter, bringing its total count to 473; it expects to open between 65 and 70 new stores this fiscal year and has a goal of reaching 900 stores.
Executives said the newer brick-and-mortars are performing well after opening.
“Our new stores continue to exceed expectations across all geographies and (each is) projected to generate approximately $3.2 million in annual revenue and payback in less than two years,” Hazen told analysts on July 31.
He added that new outposts have outperformed stores opened prior to 2019. The new store growth is encouraging to analysts.
“In our opinion, the potential to reach 900 domestic units over time represents the most compelling aspect of the long-term growth story for BOOT,” Baird Senior Research Analyst Jonathan Komp wrote in a note to investors.
Komp said that Boot Barn is about three times larger than its next biggest direct competitor, such as Tyler, Texas-based Cavender’s Boot City, with “a sizable unit expansion opportunity remaining.”
On top of its brick-and-mortar focus, the company is incorporating AI in multiple places from an in-store virtual assistant called Cassidy to an AI-powered search function for its website.
These online investments “position the company well to compete as overall retail spending increasingly shifts to online channels,” Komp added.
The customer is still led back to the store, even with digital innovations, Hazen said.
“More than half of our online orders are being fulfilled by the stores, which helps increase merchandise margin and provides the customer with a broader assortment of merchandise to shop,” Hazen explained. “Buy online, pick up in store, and ship to store have both reached record levels, which will drive increased traffic to our stores, help to reduce shipping costs and improve customer loyalty as we encourage them to shop both in-store and online.”
Thriving on Western Living
Boot Barn’s fiscal second quarter already looks promising, according to CEO Hazen. The company reported that July’s “consolidated same-store sales increased 11.7%.”
According to the company, same store sales have been in a mid- to high single-digit range since August 2024, with a few exceptions.
“We think the consumer is pretty healthy. They’re shopping with us well,” Chief Financial Officer James Watkins told analysts, adding that the team is thinking about “some of the pressure that tariffs and consumer sentiment may pose for us.”
The company maintained its prior guidance of same store sales of negative 0.5% to growth of 3.5%.
“We remain cautious of overall consumer sentiment and macro uncertainty, and we’ll continue to manage our business prudently,” Hazen told analysts.
Baird thought the guidance for the fiscal third and fourth quarters looked “conservative.”
“We have confidence in BOOT’s continued (comparable sales) performance over time supported by a favorable normalized environment tied to growth in the popularity of western living as well as strong gains for work wear,” analyst Komp said.
The Denim Game
Chief Executive John Hazen can see Boot Barn becoming a “denim destination.”
“We saw positive comp trends throughout July across all major merchandise categories, but the one worth calling out is denim,” Hazen told analysts on July 31.
“It’s a standout category for us, especially on the women’s side, across both third-party brands that we carry and our own exclusive brands. And we delivered double-digit growth in both men’s and women’s denim during the quarter,” he added.
Denim does appear to be trending with other apparel companies recently marketing their denim offerings in perhaps flashier campaigns, such as Levi’s collaboration with musical artist Beyoncé and American Eagle’s recent campaign starring actress Sydney Sweeney.
Hazen said that instead of doing similar campaigns, in-store presentations such as fit guides and a broad assortment of denim options are key.
With approximately 200 different brands sold at Boot Barn, Hazen is also betting on the company’s 12 exclusive brands such as Idyllwind and Shyanne.
These are major contributors to overall performance—six of Boot Barn’s exclusive brands account for about 35% of sales volume—and the company plans to design more direct marketing for its in-house brands.
The company released a new website and marketing campaign for its “leading work brand” Hawx this year to better advertise its work boots and clothing to blue collar customers.
Boot Barn plans to “copy and paste” the techniques for its “leading mens brand” Cody James starting in September, based on early returns from the Hawx strategy. The company hosted a Cody James-branded stage at a music festival curated by country artist Morgan Wallen in Alabama in May.
“I think our exclusive brands and the inventory position that we are in heading into our Q3 or the holiday season, puts us in a nice place relative to the competition,” Hazen said.
