Sales are rebounding across multiple categories since At Home began reopening stores as COVID-19 restrictions eased across its markets.
Categories that are outperforming the chain include home office furniture, candles, decorative accents, which is table, table accents and floor accents, bedding, window, food prep, wall art and mirrors, chairman and CEO Lee Bird told investors during the company’s quarterly conference call yesterday evening.
“On the seasonal side, patio furniture was especially strong and that was a reinvention with a focus on lower price points,” he added.
At Home fully closed its store by the week endeding March 28, although curbside pickup was available. For most of April, up to 90% of stores were closed to foot traffic, said president and COO Peter Corsa, according to the Seeking Apha transcript of the call.
In the first week of the second quarter, approximately 15% of the store base was open, which ramped to 50% in week two of the second quarter, “and it’s gotten progressively better every week since that point in time to the point now where all of our stores are open with the exception of one,” said Corsa.
Those closures took a bite out of first quarter sales, which fell 38.0% to $189.8 million for the quarter ended April 25. Comps tumbled 46.5% compared to a 0.8% decline in the year-ago quarter.
Net loss was $358.9 million, or $5.60 per diluted share, compared to net income of $13.9 million, or $0.21 per diluted share, in last year’s Q1.
