Financial Reports; Jos. A. Bank, Staples, Williams-Sonoma

Total sales up, direct sales down for Jos. A. Bank

Third-quarter sales for men’s apparel cataloger/retailer Jos. A. Bank Clothiers rose 13.7%, to $149.3 million, up from $131.3 million after the third quarter last year. Direct marketing sales, however, decreased 11.4%. Same-store sales for the quarter ended Nov. 1 increased 7%.

Staples sales jump, profits stumble

Third-quarter sales for catalog/retailer Staples jumped 34%, to $7.0 billion for the three months ended Nov. 1. But net income plunged 43%, to $157 million, down from $274.5 million last year.

Sales from its North American Delivery Business–which includes the Staples and Quill catalogs and online businesses as well as the Staples contract delivery business–grew 61%, to $2.8 billion.

Staples’ North American retail sales decreased 6%, to $2.6 billion, while same-store sales slipped 8%. Including $886 million of Corporate Express sales, total international sales rose 127%, to $1.6 billion.

Down all around for Williams-Sonoma

Third-quarter sales for kitchen and home goods cataloger/retailer Williams-Sonoma fell 16.0%, to $752.1 million, from $895.1 million last year. Direct-to-customer sales (catalog/Internet) slipped 18.3%, to $327.7 million, down from $400.9 million for the same quarter in 2007.

Company officials attributed the decrease in direct sales to declining revenue in the Pottery Barn and Pottery Barn Kids brands. Williams-Sonoma’s retail sales fell 14.1%, to $424.4 million, compared to $494.3 million last year.