Shoe Carnival Revamps Stores

Mark Lemond, president and chief executive officer of the 262-store chain told attendees at the William Blair & Company 25th Annual Growth Stock Conference that the company will focus its advertising efforts on women who make up most of the company's customers. A new ad campaign has already been launched and stores have been redesigned to entice women into the store, Lemond said. The firm also is updating its styles focusing on "fashion forward" designs and will increase its private brand stock to encourage more women's footwear sales.

"One of our major goals is to grow our women's non-athletic (shoes) from 23% of sales to 25% of sales," he said, adding that may take two or three years to accomplish that growth.

About 80 stores have already been revamped to move women's shoes to the front of the store. Another 40 stores will be remodeled during 2005 at a cost of around $5 million. The firm plans to open an additional 13 to 15 stores featuring the new look by next year and close several underperforming outlets during that period.

"The changes we've made have produced recent success," Lemond said, noting that sales during the next few years are expected to hit $6.9 million, an 8% or 9% increase over prior years. The company produced net earnings for the first quarter of 2005 of $5.9 million, a 31% increase, compared with restated net earnings of of $4.5 million in the first quarter ended May 1, 2004

Same-store sales, which showed negative numbers during 2003 and 2004, also are reversing with a 5.9% increase in sales during the first quarter of 2005. In May of this year, comp store sales shot up 7.1%. "We really feel the changes are starting to take hold," he noted.

Headquartered in Evansville, IN, Shoe Carnival has 262 stores located primarily in the Midwest, South and Southeast.