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This excerpt taken from the BKRS 8-K filed Jun 25, 2007. RJ Hottovy: Okay. Thank you and I'll hop back in the queue here.
Peter Edison: Thanks, RJ.
Operator: Thank you. Your next question is coming from Joseph George of Thomas Weisel Partners.
This excerpt taken from the BKRS 8-K filed Apr 16, 2007. RJ Hottovy: Okay. Thank you and good luck on the upcoming season.
Peter Edison: Thanks, RJ.
Operator: Thank you. Your next question comes from Joseph George of Thomas Weisel.
Joseph George: Good morning, guys.
Peter Edison: Good morning, Joseph.
Joseph George: A couple of quick questions. I wanted to get a sense of what was boots as a percentage of inventory at the end of the quarter? And how does that compare with the number last year?
Peter Edison: We're all looking at each other because no one has that number. Michele is looking to see if she can find it.
Joseph George: Or could you give me a sense of how the number looks as of today? I mean after you've done all your sales in (inaudible) in March, how does it look today?
Peter Edison: How does the boot inventory look today. Okay.
Joseph George: Yeah.
Peter Edison: This year it looks like it's...
Michele Bergerac: We're right now at an average store basis we are lower than last year in inventory in boots.
Peter Edison: It looks like it's about 10% of inventory... maybe it was 11% last year.
Joseph George: Okay. Got it. And also I wanted to get a sense of the strength that you're seeing in the closed casual category in February and March? And if
you were to look only at that particular category can you say that you have comp positive in March?
Michele Bergerac: If we were just looking at the casuals?
Joseph George: Yup.
Michele Bergerac: Absolutely.
Joseph George: Closed casual.
Michele Bergerac: Yes, absolutely. And of course that gives me some cautious optimism going forward. What we consider as part of our casuals, all our flats are in there, all our closed flats and also all our canvas and athletic shoes.
Joseph George: Got it. Okay. And the last thing I wanted to know is how are your new stores ramping up? And then if you look at the performance of the new stores and compared that to the performance of a metro unit, what will that be, what percentage would that be?
Peter Edison: New stores are operating at, but they consistently have operated roughly 85% of the average store in the first year and then that grows to over 90[%], you know, it takes them two years roughly to mature so... but that has continued, that new store volume has gone up and down with the comp as if they were being hurt by comp sales or helped by comp sales.
Joseph George: Right, and that has been consistent throughout 2006 as well or (inaudible)...
Peter Edison: That...
Joseph George: ... have you...
Peter Edison: Those ratios continued in 2006. The average store volume dropped -- average new store volume dropped at the same rate that the average store volume dropped.
Joseph George: Got it. That's it, thanks.
Peter Edison: Uh-huh.
Operator: Thank you. Your next question comes from Heather Boksen of Sidoti & Company. Please go ahead.
This excerpt taken from the BKRS 8-K filed Apr 13, 2007. RJ Hottovy: Okay. Thank you and good luck on the upcoming season.
Peter Edison: Thanks, RJ.
Operator: Thank you. Your next question comes from Joseph George of Thomas Weisel.
Joseph George: Good morning, guys.
Peter Edison: Good morning, Joseph.
Joseph George: A couple of quick questions. I wanted to get a sense of what was boots as a percentage of inventory at the end of the quarter? And how does that compare with the number last year?
Peter Edison: We're all looking at each other because no one has that number. Michele is looking to see if she can find it.
Joseph George: Or could you give me a sense of how the number looks as of today? I mean after you've done all your sales in (inaudible) in March, how does it look today?
Peter Edison: How does the boot inventory look today. Okay.
Joseph George: Yeah.
Peter Edison: This year it looks like it's...
Michele Bergerac: We're right now at an average store basis we are lower than last year in inventory in boots.
Peter Edison: It looks like it's about 10% of inventory... maybe it was 11% last year.
Joseph George: Okay. Got it. And also I wanted to get a sense of the strength that you're seeing in the closed casual category in February and March? And if
you were to look only at that particular category can you say that you have comp positive in March?
Michele Bergerac: If we were just looking at the casuals?
Joseph George: Yup.
Michele Bergerac: Absolutely.
Joseph George: Closed casual.
Michele Bergerac: Yes, absolutely. And of course that gives me some cautious optimism going forward. What we consider as part of our casuals, all our flats are in there, all our closed flats and also all our canvas and athletic shoes.
Joseph George: Got it. Okay. And the last thing I wanted to know is how are your new stores ramping up? And then if you look at the performance of the new stores and compared that to the performance of a metro unit, what will that be, what percentage would that be?
Peter Edison: New stores are operating at, but they consistently have operated roughly 85% of the average store in the first year and then that grows to over 90[%], you know, it takes them two years roughly to mature so... but that has continued, that new store volume has gone up and down with the comp as if they were being hurt by comp sales or helped by comp sales.
Joseph George: Right, and that has been consistent throughout 2006 as well or (inaudible)...
Peter Edison: That...
Joseph George: ... have you...
Peter Edison: Those ratios continued in 2006. The average store volume dropped -- average new store volume dropped at the same rate that the average store volume dropped.
Joseph George: Got it. That's it, thanks.
Peter Edison: Uh-huh.
Operator: Thank you. Your next question comes from Heather Boksen of Sidoti & Company. Please go ahead.
This excerpt taken from the BKRS 8-K filed Sep 11, 2006. RJ Hottovy: That’s it for me. Thank you.
Peter Edison: Thanks.
Operator: And we’ll take our next question from Chris Pauli with the Crown Advisors.
Peter Edison: Hi there, Chris.
Chris Pauli: Good morning. I have three questions, one for each of you. First for Michele; I noticed on my day off, Monday Labor Day, that the Tyra Banks Show, she had a handful of supermodel guests and they were all wearing boots. Has the season changed, extended, started earlier? Are you seeing any changes in the boot fashion trends?
Michele Bergerac: I think a couple of things. One is not so much where we live, which is St. Louis, but in some of the more fashion-forward cities like New York for example, gals wore boots all summer this year, which was a very interesting phenomenon in 100 degree weather. But yeah, that’s very perceptive of you, they did wear boots all summer, the level of the sales of course is very small compared to our summer category but we had boot increases all summer which was interesting. And we think it’s probably premature to make this statement but we believe right now and from the kind of boots we’re selling that the season may well creep nicely into February and March again which always makes for a nice first quarter.
Chris Pauli: And do you see it any stronger right now in the early fall or is it normal?
Michele Bergerac: It’s a little bit stronger. I say that cautiously because we’re up against such a huge fourth quarter but right now the signs are really very tantalizing.
Chris Pauli: Okay. Thank you. Larry, one for you, you mentioned what the stock expenses were for the six months and this quarter, had you been doing it last year so we can have an apples-to-apples comparison.
Larry Spanley: If you want to ask Peter the question, Chris, I can give you the answer on the proforma last year.
Peter Edison: He means ask me my question, not that one. He’s going to look it up while you’re talking.
Chris Pauli: Okay, while he’s looking that up; one for you Peter. We noticed on 8/28 that you sold some stock under your 10B5-1 plan at 9.5; can you tell us where you stand on that plan and if you’re nearing the end or complete, what your thoughts are about renewing it, putting another one in place or becoming active at these levels.
Peter Edison: Yeah, that was the last sale from the 10B5-1 plan that I put in place last August, it was sort of a preset plan out of my hands, completely managed by an investment firm and so that concludes [and] I did not renew the plan and currently have no plans to do so.
Chris Pauli: Thank you.
Larry Spanley: Chris, it looks like it was about $0.04 to $0.05 a share.
Chris Pauli: For the quarter?
Larry Spanley: [On a basic earnings per share basis] it was three for the quarter and [...] five for the six months.
Chris Pauli: Okay. Thank you very much.
Operator: And as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question today, it is star, one. Again that is star, one.
We’ll take our next question from Kelly Duval at BB&T Capital Markets.
Dave Turner: Actually, it’s Dave Turner, how are you? Good morning everyone.
Peter Edison: Good morning, Dave.
Dave Turner: Seems like there is a lot of apparel ambiguity, or I should say there is a lot ambiguity on the apparel cycle with your core consumer and I was wondering if the turn in the business, post you know, once we’ve got more firmly into back to school, was that driven by an adoption of a certain apparel look or is this truly just more you guys getting the fashion right on the footwear side or both – what was, if there was one trend, was it more apparel or was it more, you know, your execution?
Michele Bergerac: Okay, I think a couple of things. I would have to go back and repeat the open issue. You know, when you’re up against more than half your business in open shoes and they just want to wear their old ones. That’s an issue, so we’ve got to put that at the top of the list. Second of all, there is a huge 80’s trend going on right now in apparel; I really don’t think the gals know that’s what they’re doing but they’re wearing leggings, they’re wearing sweaters, most of you on this call saw Flashdance, you know exactly how the girl dressed. They don’t know they’re repeating it, it’s new to them and when you wear a tight legging like that there’s a number of shoes that we have very big inventory on that look terrific with it. One is the ballerina flat, another that we haven’t talked about at all that’s a hugely successful part of our business right now, is platform heel. Huge, huge, huge, huge, huge and so a girl that wants to go out and feels good about how she looks is going to wear a legging with platform heels. When accessories have items to latch onto that is always good for us which I mentioned before. So, I think that the 80’s trend has helped us with the fashion and I also think that some of this is cyclical. You know, every time she goes to sleep on it or lets us know for a couple of months she doesn’t like what we presented, she kind of comes back hard and I think we’ve got a lot right, right now in the closed footwear that we can ride on for the fall.
Dave Turner: Okay, that helps. Was wondering how broad from a geographic standpoint the strength in boots was, I guest it’s fairly easy, easier to understand strength in New York and the fashion markets but is it doing well in the mid-west and other, I guess, slower regions.
Michele Bergerac: Yes.
Dave Turner: As well, so it’s...
Michele Bergerac: Mmm hmm.
Dave Turner: Okay and then on the non-footwear piece, given the strength there, are there any plans to ramp up that percentage of the mix or, because I think there was a pretty big, I don’t know it off the top of my head, but it seemed like there was a big ramp last year as well or you know, is it more working, what is...
Michele Bergerac: Do you mean accessories?
Dave Turner: Correct, yeah. Or maybe either -- I said
Michele Bergerac: Okay, sure. Well, first of all we continue to plan continue aggressively in our handbag business and that’s been good for a long time and I’m sorry I neglected to mention that before. So yes, we are ramping that up yet again for holiday. Second of all, yes the answer on the accessory question. Whenever we see an item like this show itself we do go ahead and layer that on top of what – you know we have a core jewelery business that goes up and down; a core sunglass business some seasons sunglasses are hot and some they are not so we have other things that we do all the time, but right now yes, there are some very exciting items to supplement one is the headbands, one is the belts. We also have a really very nice special occasion handbag business that supplements all our prom and homecoming shoes that are very strong this season.
Dave Turner: And I guess, how does the AUR on the accessory side compare with like an overall AUR or maybe just versus the AUR on the footwear side? Is that a positive on the pricing? I mean obviously, it is going to have favorable margin impact but what does it do for the dollar volume?
Michele Bergerac: Well, we’re high; I compare accessories to accessories and so we have, over the last couple of years, worked to raise our jewellery retails, raise our belt retails, raise our handbag retails and so we are higher accessories against accessories.
Dave Turner: Okay, thank you.
Peter Edison: Thanks Dave.
Operator: I would now like to turn the conference back over to Peter Edison for any additional or closing remarks.
Peter Edison: Thank you, Cindy. Thanks everyone for your participation and support. We look forward to speaking with you again when we report third quarter results in December, if not sooner.
Operator: And that does conclude today’s conference. You may disconnect at this time.
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