Dollar General total retail sales accelerate as per forecast
02 Sep '05
3 min read
Leading departmental chain store Family Dollar Stores Inc reported total retail sales for the August four-week period ended August 26, 2005, equaled $624.0 million compared with $570.7 million last year, an increase of 9.3 percent. For the August period, same-store sales, or sales in stores that were open both at the end of the period and at the beginning of the preceding fiscal year, increased 0.9 percent, which is within the Company's previously communicated range.
The primary drivers of positive same-store sales were food, including perishables, candy and snacks, as well as pet supplies and paper products. These results were partially offset by negative same-store sales in the summer seasonal, basic clothing and stationery departments.
The Company believes that its August same-store sales were unfavorably impacted by increased pressure on its customers' discretionary purchases caused by higher gasoline prices as well as aggressive back-to-school marketing and pricing by competitors. Customer transactions in same-stores decreased approximately 2.1 percent. The average customer purchase in August for total stores was approximately $8.82 compared to $8.44 in the same period last year.
For the 30-week period ended August 26, 2005, Dollar General total retail sales increased 12.3 percent to $4.7 billion from $4.2 billion for the 30-week period ended August 27, 2004. Same-store sales for the 30-week period increased 4.0 percent.Year-to-date through August 26, 2005, the Company opened 484 stores and closed 49 stores.
marketing@alchempro.com
