Pier 1 Store Closings: Retailer Expands Total Closings To 57 Stores

After announcing that it would be closing 45 stores in April, Pier 1 (PIR) is expanding the number of locations that it will be closing this year. The company said during its 2020 Q1 earnings call that a total of 57 stores will close during the fiscal year, up 12 from its April announcement.

“We are in active discussions with our landlords,” interim CEO Cheryl Bachelder said during a call to analysts. “Where we have not seen landlord participation, we have begun our store closing program as we said we would."

At the time that Pier 1 announced that it would be closing 45 stores, it also indicated that more could follow, which could be as high as 145 stores or 15 percent of the company’s portfolio.

Bachelder said on Wednesday, “If we are unable to achieve our performance goals, sales targets and reductions in occupancies and other costs, we could close up to 15% of our portfolio.

Pier 1 has more than 965 locations in the U.S. and Canada, where it sells home décor, furniture, and other accessories.

The news of the additional store closures comes as Pier 1 announced its 2020 first-quarter earnings. Results for the quarter included a company comparable sales decrease of 13.5 percent compared to Q1 of fiscal 2019, a net sales decrease of 15.5 percent to $314.3 million compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2019, and a net loss of $81.7 million.

The company also reported an inventory of $327.2 million, which was down about 1 percent year-over-year. Its cash and cash flow equivalents came in at $30.5 million for the quarter end.

Shares of Pier 1 stock were down 4.67 percent as of 12:18 p.m. ET on Thursday.