RTW Retailwinds Store Closures: 30 New York & Co, Fashion To Figure Stores To Close

RTW Retailwinds (RTW) has reportedly announced that it will close up to 30 stores in the coming weeks. The news of the store closures comes as the retailer released its third-quarter earnings report.

The store closures will be comprised of 19 New York & Co. locations, four Fashion to Figure stores, and four outlet stores, taking its total year closures to 31 with nine new locations added to its portfolio as it released struggling sales numbers for Q3, (via Seeking Alpha).

In Q3, RTW had a net sales decrease of 5% to $200.1 million from $210.8 million during the same time last year. Store comparable sales dropped 4% while its e-commerce business grew 36%, up 4% over last year.

RTW also saw a gross profit as a percentage of sales decrease by 460 basis points to 27.8%, down from 32.4% last year. Year-over-year net loss was $11.6 million, up from the net income of $1.7 million a year prior. Total operating loss was $12.1 million for the quarter.

"Unfortunately, traffic in our store channel combined with challenges in our denim-based SoHo Jeans sub-brand drove the quarter's operating loss," Gregory Scott , CEO at RTW Retailwinds said in a statement. The team navigated these headwinds through disciplined inventory management and expense controls and we ended the quarter with lower inventory and with $65.6 million in cash on-hand with no debt. We acknowledge these challenges and are addressing with a sense of urgency."

Scott also went on to say, "While our reads in October and early November were above our expectations, our Black Friday performance was disappointing due to traffic in our store channel. We were pleased that our Cyber Monday results delivered record-breaking traffic and sales, which reflects the continued bifurcation of our positive digital growth and our traffic headwinds in stores.

"In addition, we anticipate improving margin rate over the prior year period reflecting our merchandise strategies. Finally, we expect to drive positive growth across our digital businesses and Fashion to Figure brand in the fourth quarter," he added.

RTW Retailwinds closed 14 stores in 2018.

Shares of RTW Retailwinds stock was down 22.49% as of 2:59 p.m. EST on Friday.