Pier 1 Q1 comps up 14.3%

FORT WORTH, Texas Pier 1 Imports reported that comparable-store sales for the first quarter ended May 29 increased 14.3%. Last year’s comparable-store sales declined 7.5% for the first quarter ended May 30, 2009. Total sales for the quarter improved to $306 million compared with $281 million in the year ago quarter.

Alex Smith, president and CEO said, “We are extremely pleased with our first quarter sales increases. Comp-store sales continue to be driven by consistent increases in conversion rate, average ticket and traffic. As previously reported, March sales benefited from the earlier Easter holiday but business was solid throughout April and May ending with a strong Memorial Day weekend. All major merchandise categories performed well during the quarter and the variations in the performance geographically were much less than last year. We look forward to discussing our first quarter results in detail during our upcoming conference call.”