Torrid to open 30 to 40 stores this year

Torrid Holdings sees store growth as crucial to its success.

Torrid, which specializes in apparel and intimates for women sizes 10 to 30, will open 30 to 40 stores this year. By comparision, the company opened 18 Torrid stores and eight Curv stores during fiscal 2022.

“We’ll start opening more stores this year and we will accelerate that as we move into following years,” said CEO Lisa Harper on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call. “We have all of the data that we need to indicate that this is a very sound business strategy for us as we move forward.”

Harper, who was named CEO in May 2022, told analysts that stores “are a proven competitive advantage for this business.” She noted that Torrid will expand “very thoughtfully, strategically with a test and react mentality.”

“But I’m feeling excited about the opportunity the runway that we can build by reigniting this method that we’ve used historically to drive the growth of the brand,” she said. 

Torrid reported a net loss of $3.8 million, or a loss of $0.04 per share, for the quarter ended Jan.28, compared to a net loss of $22.8 million, or a loss of $0.21 per share in the year-ago quarter. Analysts had forecast a net loss of $0.08 per share.

There was no adjustment to net income in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, but  adjusted net income for the year-ago quarter was $9.7 million, or $0.09 per share.

 Revenue fell 5.5% to $301.2 million, easily topping estimates at $295.5 million.  Comparable sales in the quarter fell 5.4%.

For the full year, net sales decreased 0.7% to $1.288 billion.  Comparable sales decreased 3.4%.

“This past year, we focused on improving the health of our organization and made operational changes that have set us up to drive long-term growth in the business,” Harper said. “We are pleased with the quality of our inventory and product moving forward, and we are starting to see our gross margin rates stabilize.”

Looking ahead to fiscal 2023, Torrid expects net sales between $1.265 billion to $1.320 billion, roughly flat from 2022, and adjusted EBITDA between $140 million to $152 million.

“As we look ahead to 2023, we will continue to expand our store footprint driving customer file growth, delivering exciting merchandise to fill every need in our closet and enhance our customer relationships,” Harper said.

In separate news, Torrid appointed Mark Mizicko to the role of chief commercial officer. Mizicko served as chief planning officer at Belk, from 2017 to 2020.  Prior to Belk, from 2011 to 2016, Mizicko was chief planning officer at Hot Topic and Torrid, and served as chief operating officer at Torrid for the last nine months of his term.

Based in City of Industry, Calif., Torrid operates 639 stores nationwide.