Babies R Us to top $2 billion sales; new flagship store opens in
NYC
We got a last peek at the doings at Babies R Us,
courtesy of Toys R Us last financial filing before they go private in a deal we
wrote about earlier in our blog.
BRU
sales will top $2 billion this year, based on our analysis. Babies R Us racked
up $503 billion sales for the quarter ending July 2005. For the first half 2005,
BRU had $1.045 billion. Sales were up 10.7% for the last quarter compared with
2005.
BRU is also the only part of Toys R
Us that is earning a profit---BRU posted a $50 million profit for the last
quarter. But that profit figure dropped 7% from the year earlier period. That
probably indicates a sign that BRU is facing fierce price pressure from
competitors like Wal-Mart and Target, which have ramped up their baby gear
offerings in recent years.
Another sign
of slow growth at BRU: comparable store sales (sales for stores open a year) at
BRU were up only 2.2% in 2004---that means existing BRU stores are seeing very
little sales growth, again because of competition. We should note that comp
store sales has recovered a bit this year, averaging 4.5% in 2005. That's on par
with other retailers, but hardly stellar
performance.
BRU is now growing primarily
through opening new stores, including 20 new ones this year (including a
flagship store that opens this Friday in New York City in Union Square that
boasts 30,000 square feet of space). BRU now has 220 stores
nationwide.
Posted: Wed - October 26, 2005 at 11:45 AM