California Apparel News

Retailers reported a tough market in October.

Business for most retailers fell short of Wall Street forecasts, according to analysts such as Ken Perkins of Retail Metrics, a Boston-area market-research firm.

In a Nov. 5 note, Perkins wrote that disappointing sales have been part of a soft trend in 2015. “Our Retail Metrics Monthly Same Store Sales Index has now mixed expectations in seven out of the first 10 months in 2015,” he wrote. He blamed the soft performance on unseasonably warm weather during October as well as stagnant income growth and slow sales for the U.S. auto market.

All of the retailers followed by California Apparel News’ index posted declines in their October retail sales. L Brands Inc., the parent company of Victoria’s Secret, and Stein Mart Inc., an off-pricer, reported declines in their same-store sales of 2.5 percent and 2.8 percent respectively. The Buckle Inc. reported a same-store-sales decline of 5.8 percent. Zumiez Inc. , a mall-based seller of action-sports styles, reported same-store-sales declines of 8.1 percent. Gap Inc. is typically included on California Apparel News’ index, but it will report its October sales on Nov. 9.

Bebe Stores Inc. postponed a Nov. 5 conference call on its first-quarter earnings of its 2016 fiscal year. The mall-based retailer announced that it was still in the process of preparing its financial statements.

In a Nov. 5 research note, Adrienne Yih Tennant of Wolfe Research wrote that the company had excess inventory heading into its fourth quarter and Zumiez would probably offer deeper promotions for the remainder of the third quarter.

In a preview note of October’s business that was published on Nov. 2, Yih Tennant wrote that October is historically an unimportant month. “[It] is only important in so far as it signals how clean inventory is exiting the quarter,” she said.