For all you Harold’s (HLDI) department store fans, you may want to start showing the company some love by shopping there for the rest of the year ;) The company announced a net loss of $5.0 million this past quarter. They attributed this to sales not being what they expected which resulted in “incremental markdowns” - (i.e. Go shop now because they’re blowing stuff out of the store!) Sales for the quarter were $19.3 million compared to $20.3 million last year at this time. Investors lost $.81 per share.
See, this is why I could never be a buyer for a store. Essentially it’s on you to pick the right merchandise and to basically guess what the customers are going to want. If you don’t pick the right merch, the company is forced to do markdowns. Now, granted, there are always going to be markdowns, but the less the merrier - in this case.
Since Harold’s seems to be having a bad year, it may be time for new buyers, a makeover, or more advertising. Hmm, or all three... I went "window shopping" on their website - because we don't have a Harold's here in San Diego - and didn't see anything that I particularly liked.
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