iParty Corp. Reports Sales for Calendar Month October 2011
November 03 2011 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
iParty Corp. (NYSE Amex: IPT - news), a party goods retailer,
today reported total company sales of $17.6 million for the
calendar month of October, 2011, a decrease of 11.1% compared to
total company sales in calendar October 2010.
Sal Perisano, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of iParty
Corp., commented “On Saturday, October 28th, New England was struck
with a freak early season Nor’easter that deposited as much as 30
inches of heavy snow onto our markets and caused widespread power
outages for our customers and certain of our stores. Eleven of our
party stores and one temporary Halloween store lost power and were
temporarily closed. Four of those stores were still closed as of
Tuesday morning, November 1st. Also as a consequence of the storm,
Halloween trick or treating was cancelled or postponed in many of
the communities we serve. For those of our stores that remained
open through the storm and its aftermath, Halloween season sales
were significantly affected by the disruption experienced by our
customers as a result of the storm.”
For the thirty-one day calendar month of October 2011, total
company sales were $17.6 million, compared to $19.8 million for the
same period in 2010. Sales at comparable stores for the calendar
month decreased 12.8% compared to the same period in 2010.
For the five week fiscal month of October, which ended on
October 29th, total sales decreased by 11.4% compared to the same
fiscal month period in 2010. Sales at comparable stores decreased
13.0% for the October fiscal month compared to the fiscal month of
October 2010.
For the calendar year 2011 through October, total company sales
were $67.9 million, a 4.5% decrease compared to the same period in
2010. Sales at comparable stores for this period decreased 7.2%
compared to the same period in 2010. For the forty-four week period
through fiscal October 2011, which ended on October 29th, total
company sales decreased by 4.1%, and sales at comparable stores
decreased 6.6% compared to the same period in 2010.
Mr. Perisano further stated “Historically, the last few days
before Halloween are our strongest sales dates of the year. There
is no question that this storm arrived at the worst possible time
of the year – on our busiest day. Its aftermath remains evident
throughout the Northeast where it has affected millions of people.
Despite the impact of the storm, we saw improvements in our
temporary Halloween stores this season and we were pleased with the
performance of our new e-commerce site. Finally, we are proud of
the resilience and dedication shown by our store associates, who
reacted swiftly and effectively to serve as many customers as
possible in the face of a very difficult situation. We were knocked
down by this storm, but by no means knocked out, as we now proceed
to prepare our business for the holiday season and beyond.”
About iParty Corp.
Headquartered in Dedham, Massachusetts, iParty Corp. is a party
goods retailer that operates 52 iParty retail stores in New England
and Florida and an internet site (www.iparty.com) for costume and
related goods and party planning. iParty’s aim is to make throwing
a successful event both stress-free and fun. With an extensive
assortment of party supplies and costumes in our stores and
available at our online store, iParty offers consumers a
sophisticated, yet fun and easy-to-use, resource to help them
customize any party, including birthday bashes, Easter
get-togethers, graduation parties, summer barbecues and, of course,
Halloween. In addition to the extensive assortment of costume and
related merchandise available through iParty’s internet site our
web site focuses on increasing customer visits to our retail stores
by highlighting the ever changing store product assortment for all
occasions and seasons and featuring sales flyers, enter-to-win
contests, monthly coupons and ideas and themes offering consumers
an easy and fun approach to any party. iParty aims to offer
reliable, time-tested knowledge of party-perfect trends, and
superior customer service to ensure convenient and comprehensive
merchandise selections for every occasion. Please visit our site at
www.iparty.com.
Safe harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
as contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. You can
identify these statements by the fact that they use words such as
"anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "project,"
"plan," "outlook," and other words and terms of similar meaning.
These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially from the potential
results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Among the
factors that could cause actual results and outcomes to differ
materially from those contained in such forward-looking statements
are the following: changes in consumer confidence and consumer
spending patterns, particularly those impacting the New England
region and Florida, which may result from, among other factors,
rising or sustained high levels of unemployment, access to consumer
credit, mortgage foreclosures, credit market turmoil, declines in
the stock market, general feelings and expectations about the
overall economy, and unseasonable weather; the successful
implementation of our growth and marketing strategies; our ability
to access our existing credit line or to obtain additional
financing, if required, on acceptable terms and conditions; rising
commodity prices, especially oil and gas prices; effect of Chinese
inflation on our suppliers and product pricing; our relationships
with our third party suppliers; the failure of our inventory
management system and our point of sale system; competition from
other party supply stores and stores that merchandise and market
party supplies, including big discount retailers, dollar store
chains, and temporary Halloween merchandisers; risks related to
e-commerce; the availability of retail store space on reasonable
lease terms; and compliance with evolving federal securities,
accounting, and stock exchange rules and regulations applicable to
publicly-traded companies listed on the NYSE Amex. For a more
detailed discussion of risks and uncertainties which could cause
actual results to differ from those contained in the
forward-looking statements, see Item 1A, "Risk Factors" of iParty's
most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year
ended December 25, 2010 and our other periodic reports filed with
the SEC. iParty is providing this information as of this date, and
does not undertake to update the information included in this press
release, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
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