A.C. Moore 4Q comps down 8.7%

BERLIN, N.J. A.C. Moore Arts & Crafts announced that sales for the fourth quarter of 2008 were $165 million, a decrease of 6.9% versus sales of $177.3 million during the fourth quarter of 2007. Same-store sales for the fourth quarter 2008 decreased by 8.7% versus the same period in fiscal 2007.

The net loss in the fourth quarter 2008 was $13 million, or 64 cents per share, versus net income of $4.7 million, or 23 cents per share, for the fourth quarter 2007.

Rick Lepley, CEO, stated, “We remain focused on managing our balance sheet and expenses through this very challenging macroeconomic environment. We will concentrate our resources in areas we believe will have a favorable long-term impact on our company, including our new state of the art retail merchandising system which we began to implement during the fourth quarter.”