jeff

Hibbett Sports: Annual Results and Omni-Channel Progress After a Remarkably Late Start.

Hibbett Sports

“At the end of the second quarter of Fiscal 2018, we successfully launched our e-commerce website,” Hibbett Sports (HS) tells us in their 10-K for the year ended February 2nd.  This isn’t news.  I wrote about it last October when I discussed their quarterly results. If you’re not already familiar with HS, you might review […]

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Volcom Sold by Kering to Authentic Brands Group, Kind Of.

Volcom

The title of the press release is “Authentic Brands Group Acquires Volcom.”  Well, not exactly.  The Authentic Brands Group (ABG) press release goes on: “…ABG has taken a minority stake in Liberated Brands, the newly-formed operating company for Volcom. Todd Hymel and Volcom’s current management team have taken the majority stake in Liberated Brands and

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Recession as Part of Your Strategy: Zumiez’s Results for the Year Ended February 2nd

Zumiez

Let’s go right to something Zumiez CEO Rick Brooks says at the end of the conference call on their results. “…our goals [is to] continue to grow the profitability of the business from [an] operating profit perspective.  Now of course if we have recession we’ll go backwards and we’ll see competitors go away across the

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“More of the Same” is Not the Way to Prosper When Change in Retail is Rampant: Big 5 Sporting Goods.

Big 5

I don’t cover Big 5 every quarter.  However, their 10K for the year ended December 30, 2018 requires some discussion.  They seem to be flailing in the emerging retail environment and seem reluctant to respond to all the changes.  They are betting that their old strategy will continue to work. It appears I’m not the

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What Caused Shopko to File for Bankruptcy? Two Parts to the Puzzle.

Finance and Funds Flow

Last Wednesday Shopko, a general merchandise retailer with 333 stores, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.  On January 17th, SGB Media published an article on Shopko and the filing by Thomas J. Ryan with the title, “Shopko Becomes Latest Casualty Of Online Disruption.” I took umbrage at the suggestion that online disruption was the primary cause

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What Happens When the Apparel You Buy Fits Perfectly Every Time?

Retail

Technology that has value tends to get better and cheaper.  I can’t think of a reason that won’t be true for the Zozosuit. “Japanese retailer Zozo, which operates Zozotown, the country’s largest online fashion marketplace, has developed a figure-hugging bodysuit featuring lots of uniquely patterned dots.” “As you turn slowly round, your smartphone takes photos,

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