Stater Bros. like-store sales up 1.4% in Q1

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. Stater Bros. announced that sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 increased 1.72% to $959.3 million compared to $943 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2008. Like-store sales increased 1.4% or $12.7 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2009 compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2008.

The company reported net income for first quarter of fiscal 2009 of $3.5 million compared to net income of $10.8 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2008.

Jack Brown, chairman, president and CEO of Stater BrosBrown said, "Our plan is to assist our customers during these very tough economic times...and the plan is working. By holding back on price increases, which affected our profits, we served approximately one million more customers in the first quarter of fiscal 2009 than in the first quarter of fiscal 2008. Our financial performance in the first quarter of fiscal 2009 reflects the overall impact of the current economic downturn. The tough economy has hit our marketing area of the Inland Empire especially hard as we have seen business closures, layoffs and increases in unemployment. The uncertain economic future has caused our customers to tighten their family budgets and we have responded by giving even more value for their shopping dollar while continuing to provide a friendly and satisfying shopping experience on each and every one of their visits to our Supermarkets. We remain committed to controlling costs and keeping our valued customer base as we weather the effect of these economic times."