Sears Canada Inc. says sales of major appliances, furniture and mattresses helped its performance in the third quarter but overall revenue was down and the department store retailer continues to lose money.
Sales in the latest three-month stretch fell more than 5 per cent, to $792.1 million, a decline the retailer attributed to the closing of more stores.
But same-store sales — which measures sales at outlets that have been open for more than a year — at surviving locations are stabilizing it appears, climbing 0.4 per cent overall in the third quarter. Sears Canada said same-store sales were up 2.7 per cent at “core” locations.
MORE: Sears Canada sells off more real estate, distribution centre
Sears Canada considers its 95 full-line department stores and 43 Sears Home stores to be its core retail network, excluding outlets, 144 hometown stores and its direct-to-consumer channel through online and catalogue sales.
The company has 1,200 catalogue and online merchandise pickup locations.
For the period, Sears, which has tried to turn around a prolonged slide in recent quarters under various leaders, lost $53.2 million — an improvement over last year’s third quarter loss, which amounted to $118.7 million.
New leadership
Earlier this month, Sears Canada Inc. said it had hired Carrie Kirkman, a veteran of the Canadian retail industry, to be its president and chief merchant – a new position created to restore shoppers’ confidence in the struggling department store operator.
Kirkman has most recently been interim president of shoe retailer Nine West Canada and was president of Jones Apparel Group from October 2010 until last April.
Kirkman will work with Brandon G. Stranzl, who has been executive chairman of Sears Canada since the departure of Ronald Boire, who was chief executive and president of the troubled Canadian department store company for less than a year.
WATCH: Sears Canada loses chief executive Ron Boire in July.
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