Brookstone Sales Down 2%
High-end gadgets retailer/cataloger Brookstone reported total sales of $89.5 million for the third quarter ended Sept. 27, a 2% decrease from the third quarter last year. Same-store sales decreased 5.9%.
The company reported a net loss of $10.4 million, compared to $10.2 million for the same period last year.
Brookstone CEO Lou Mancini said in a statement that although third quarter sales were affected by the grim economy, the company was “able to mitigate much of this impact on the bottom line through expense reductions.”
He added that the closing of rival Sharper Image earlier this year should give Brookstone a “significant opportunity to build on our market leadership through more new product introductions” in the fourth quarter.
Office Depot Posts Net Loss Of $7 Million
Third-quarter sales for Office Depot decreased 7%, to $3.7 billion for the period ended Sept. 27. The company reported a net loss of $7 million, compared to net income of $117 million for the same period in 2007.
Sales in the North America Business Solutions Division, which includes catalogs, sank 10%, to $1.1 billion. Sales in the direct channel decreased 10% “due to less effective marketing and issues with the outsourced telephone account manager partner,” according to a company release.
The North American Retail Division’s sales fell 11%, to $1.6 billion, with same-store sales down 14% for the quarter. Sales in the International Division rose 3%, to $1.0 billion.
PC Connection’s Net Income Slides 58%
Third-quarter sales for Merrimack, NH-based PC Connection decreased 3.3%, to $441.4 million, compared to $456.5 million for the same period last year.
That’s not great, but it gets worse: For the period ended Sept. 30, the computers merchant’s net income plummeted 58%, to $3.2 million, down from $7.7 million.