Earnings Labs

Zumiez Inc. (ZUMZ)

Q1 2014 Earnings Call· Thu, May 22, 2014

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Zumiez Incorporated First Quarter Fiscal 2014 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. We will conduct a question-and-answer session toward the end of this conference. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone of the company’s Safe Harbor language. Today’s conference call includes comments concerning Zumiez’s business outlook and contains forward-looking statements. These particular forward-looking statements and all other statements may be made on this call that are not based on historical facts are subject to risk and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially. Additional information concerning a number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the information that will be discussed is available in Zumiez’s filings with the SEC. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Rick Brooks, Zumiez’s Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, sir.

Rick Brooks

Analyst

Alright. Thank you and welcome everyone. I am joined today by our Chief Financial Officer, Chris Work. I’ll start the call today with some prepared remarks about the first quarter and then Chris will take you through our key financial and operating metrics. After that, we’ll open up the call to your questions. First quarter net sales of $162.9 million exceeded our guidance as comparable store sales increased 1.8% in the quarter versus a mid single-digit decline we initially projected. Importantly, after getting through some excess inventory early in the quarter the upside was driven by full price selling in the back half of the quarter. This, along with better expense management, allowed us to deliver earnings per share of $0.09, $0.06 above the high-end of our guidance range. While the first quarter is a seasonally smaller quarter for us, we are certainly encouraged by consumer response to our merchandise and selling strategies. We believe our ability to exceed our sales and product margin projections in the current retail environment is a testament to our highly differentiated products assortments and the seamless shopping experience we provide our customers regardless of which channel they choose to engage with us. We have talked a lot over the past few years about the investments we have been making in developing a strong omni-channel presence, inclusive of a highly productive store base and a robust e-commerce platform, both domestically and abroad. I am pleased to say that as anticipated these investments are starting to pay dividends and are further separating us from the competition. This quarter, while it appears mall traffic remained sluggish, our business performed better than expected in the first quarter with total sales up 9.7% as our customer connected with us across all channels. In North America we opened five new…

Chris Work

Analyst

Thanks Rick. Good afternoon everyone. As usual I will start with a brief review of our first quarter results and then shed some light on how we are thinking about the second quarter. First quarter net sales increased 9.7% over the first quarter of 2013 to $162.9 million. By region North American sales were up 8.1%, and Europe sales were $12.3 million, an increase of 34.6% in the quarter. Comparable sales increased 1.8% in the first quarter inclusive of e-commerce sales. The increase was primarily due to an increase in comparable store transactions partially offset by a decrease in dollars per transaction. The decrease in dollars per transaction was primarily due to a decrease in average unit retail, partially offset by an increase in units per transaction. In terms of category performance accessories, hardgoods and juniors posted positive comps while footwear, boys and men’s comped negative. We finished the quarter with a total store count of 558 stores, up from 503 stores a year ago. Gross profit was $50.5 million in the first quarter of 2014, an increase of $2.5 million over the first quarter of 2013. Gross margin was 31.0% in the quarter, down from 32.3% in the first quarter of 2013 primarily due to 130 basis point decline in product margins as we cleared through excess inventory early in the quarter. SG&A expenses for the quarter were $46.8 million or 28.7% of net sales compared to $43.9 million or 29.6% of net sales in the 2013 quarter. Included in the SG&A in the current year period, was $0.6 million associated with the amortization of intangible assets associated with the Blue Tomato acquisition, while the year ago period included $1.7 million in the acquisition-related costs which included the contingent earnout and amortization of intangible assets. First quarter operating profit…

Question

Analyst

and:

Operator

Operator

Mr. King are you there, you may proceed with your question your phone maybe internally muted.

Dave King

Analyst

No, I am actually here, thanks. Can you guys hear me okay? ROTH Capital Partners: No, I am actually here, thanks. Can you guys hear me okay?

Rick Brooks

Analyst

Yes.

Dave King

Analyst

Okay, perfect. I guess first off my question was on the product margins guidance that you have both for the year I guess and then for the quarter it sounds like for the year some of that is due to mix but then if I think about the second quarter is that fair to assume that that’s what’s driving that there and then just more color around what specifically is driving that would be helpful? Thank you. ROTH Capital Partners: Okay, perfect. I guess first off my question was on the product margins guidance that you have both for the year I guess and then for the quarter it sounds like for the year some of that is due to mix but then if I think about the second quarter is that fair to assume that that’s what’s driving that there and then just more color around what specifically is driving that would be helpful? Thank you.

Chris Work

Analyst

Certainly, yes, as you probably recall when we came into the first quarter we gave product margin guidance in the range of down 150 to 200 basis points we specifically gave that guidance based on some of the pressures in the environment but more specifically because of the excess inventory we are carrying as of end of the quarter. So our approach has always been to keep very clean inventory so we knew we need to move through that pretty aggressively and because of that there’d be an impact on product margins in the first quarter. As I indicated in the prepared remarks we ended the quarter with product margins down 130 basis points. As we think about this into the second quarter and beyond we feel much better about our inventory levels as we close the first quarter. So, while we still anticipate some pressure on product margins as we move through the year partially due to mix and there is other factors as well we do not expect them at the levels that we experienced in Q1. And I think it’s important to note as Rick has pointed on his comments is we aim to be a full price retailer and that’s very important for us full price and full margin. And so as we plan the business going forward for 2014, we do expect there to be some deleverage on the product margin level but we’re aiming to be at full price.

Dave King

Analyst

Okay, so then it sounds then like there is some carryover inventory that maybe impacting that to some extent that in the second quarter specifically? ROTH Capital Partners: Okay, so then it sounds then like there is some carryover inventory that maybe impacting that to some extent that in the second quarter specifically?

Chris Work

Analyst

Yes, I would say there is some, it’s a very small piece. We feel much better about our inventory levels ending the first quarter than where we were at the end of Q4.

Dave King

Analyst

Okay, thanks for the color Chris. And then in terms of the footwear business I think last quarter we talked about maybe some increased risk that you guys might be taking but still within budget in terms of what you guys are looking to do. And then over the course of the quarter I think footwear I would say it’s probably was one of the underperformers versus maybe some of the other segments. Rick, could you just sort of update us on what you are thinking there about the footwear business? Are you having any success to some of those risks that you’re taking and just sort of outlook kind of going forward for that business could be helpful? ROTH Capital Partners: Okay, thanks for the color Chris. And then in terms of the footwear business I think last quarter we talked about maybe some increased risk that you guys might be taking but still within budget in terms of what you guys are looking to do. And then over the course of the quarter I think footwear I would say it’s probably was one of the underperformers versus maybe some of the other segments. Rick, could you just sort of update us on what you are thinking there about the footwear business? Are you having any success to some of those risks that you’re taking and just sort of outlook kind of going forward for that business could be helpful?

Rick Brooks

Analyst

Sure. Footwear as you correctly got from our comments in the way we order the category performance it was a tougher category in Q1. Now, we are doing things trying to target improvements in the footwear business. I would tell you that we’ve had marginal success with those that we are fighting a uphill battle in both men’s and women’s footwear. So, there is just some trend items that are against the hot brand on the women’s side that’s not quite as hot as it once was. And on the men’s side and I think we all are well aware that athletic performance footwear, basketball shoes and things like that are actually more in trend than our typical product that we carry. So we’ve had modest success, we’re still fighting those upward battles in both the men’s and women’s side of the business. Now that being said, as we have pointed out we comped positively for the quarter, so I’d just like to remind everyone that we ride trends, we ride trends around brands and brands will go up and down, we ride fashion trends, and we take advantage of those, and we are also are subject to category trends in things like footwear. So for a number of years we talked about how footwear was a driver of our business from the category perspective. We are going to recycle that. We’re finding that other categories that we have been talking about like skate and women’s have been leading the way over the last few quarters. So this isn’t unexpected or anticipated. We expect to go through cycles like this. We try to minimize those trends on the downside by pushing hard in the other departments you are going to trend up to maximize those cycles. So I’d like to just to make sure we all think about this from the perspective of again managing a portfolio of brands and categories and that together we are pretty good at driving that gain.

Dave King

Analyst

Alright, thanks so much guys. ROTH Capital Partners: Alright, thanks so much guys.

Operator

Operator

(Operator Instructions) And your next question comes from the line of Steph Wissink with Piper Jaffray. Please proceed.

Steph Wissink

Analyst · Piper Jaffray. Please proceed.

Hi. Good afternoon everyone. Just a couple of questions, if I might, as a follow-up to the earlier question on inventory, Chris I think you mentioned maybe this notion of balancing comp with merchandize margin. Can you just talk a little bit more about how we should think about that through the balance of the year? Are you working inventory to a level that you feel like you can control merchandize margin a bit better, even if it comes at the expense of comp? So that’s kind of one question. And then Rick a question for you, just on the run rate of the business on a longer term basis, as we kind of see this high single-digit top-line rate of growth merchandise margin at this kind of current level, does this alter the cost assumptions of the business model? Are you thinking any differently about kind of how you invest to the interior of the P&L to really support maximizing profitability potential? Thank you. Piper Jaffray: Hi. Good afternoon everyone. Just a couple of questions, if I might, as a follow-up to the earlier question on inventory, Chris I think you mentioned maybe this notion of balancing comp with merchandize margin. Can you just talk a little bit more about how we should think about that through the balance of the year? Are you working inventory to a level that you feel like you can control merchandize margin a bit better, even if it comes at the expense of comp? So that’s kind of one question. And then Rick a question for you, just on the run rate of the business on a longer term basis, as we kind of see this high single-digit top-line rate of growth merchandise margin at this kind of current level, does this alter the cost assumptions of the business model? Are you thinking any differently about kind of how you invest to the interior of the P&L to really support maximizing profitability potential? Thank you.

Chris Work

Analyst · Piper Jaffray. Please proceed.

Sure, I will take the first part of your question here Steph, on product margin. As we think about product margin for the remainder of the year, and I’ll remind you, our North America product margins for 2013, were at a record high. So as we look at how we are planning product margin for 2014, we do expect product margins on a consolidated basis to be down moderately. So we will have some impact there, albeit this is something we will continue to manage. In regards to comp, our business is to sell brands that have a great equity, and marking them down is not what we think is in the best interest of the brands that we work with. So we are going to continue to try to find great brands to work with and partner with that we can sell their inventory at full price and give a great presentation to our consumer. And so when we do do more promotional things those are things that we hope we can plan into to manage the business. So we are not managing it to mark inventory down just to drive comp or managing it to what’s right for the brands or what’s right for the long-term brand as you need.

Rick Brooks

Analyst · Piper Jaffray. Please proceed.

And let me take the actually Steph the last part of your question there related to our thinking around long-term run rate, it’s relative to comp sales, and if I got your question right, then does it alter some of our thinking around cost assumption and investments we need to make in terms of maximizing productivity. Well the answer is yes. We think about all those things and we think about that a lot because retail over the last two years - we do also - and be stuck in low gear here. So it tells us I think a couple of things from that perspective and well I say that I do want to -- I just make sure I want to point out that our low gear appears to be better than most retailers low gears, in terms of how we are performing both on a comp and profitability perspective. So I just want to make sure I’m clear about that. And that is because we’re doing something very different out there in terms of what we are doing in our business model. Differentiated, unique in terms of the experiences we always talked about here relative to product and relative to what we do with our people and the integration of a multi-channel selling platform. So, but yes, that we are thinking about all these things and of course are challenging ourselves around what can be do around the cost assumptions now. As you know having been around us for a long time, we don’t have a lot of fat here at Zumiez. So we have always been a very lean organization. So for us to look at costs, we going to have to look at things very creatively, and I think where we can, we will do…

Steph Wissink

Analyst · Piper Jaffray. Please proceed.

Alright, thanks guys. Best of luck. Piper Jaffray: Alright, thanks guys. Best of luck.

Operator

Operator

And your next question comes from the line of Mitch Kummetz with Robert Baird. Please proceed.

Mitch Kummetz

Analyst · Robert Baird. Please proceed.

Yes, thanks. First question I guess has a couple of parts to it, so on your Q1 performance. I am just curious how much did weather play into it was there a net positive, negative? And then in terms of exceeding your comp plan on the quarter I know Rick you talked about better performance in the back half on full price selling. But as you think about the upside relative to your major product segments, is there anything that stood out from a product standpoint that drove the comp better than planned? And I’ve got a follow-up. Robert W. Baird: Yes, thanks. First question I guess has a couple of parts to it, so on your Q1 performance. I am just curious how much did weather play into it was there a net positive, negative? And then in terms of exceeding your comp plan on the quarter I know Rick you talked about better performance in the back half on full price selling. But as you think about the upside relative to your major product segments, is there anything that stood out from a product standpoint that drove the comp better than planned? And I’ve got a follow-up.

Rick Brooks

Analyst · Robert Baird. Please proceed.

Alright. I’ll let Chris talk about it if there is any, we can see any regional differences Mitch but I am not sure we have any great insight here clearly the weather I think was the factor but we’re not going to probably I think tell you anything great that we see any unusual insights relative to a positive or negative it just is what it is. And we’re happy to generate positive numbers. And I think as we said previously the -- we performed particularly well in April as we said in the back half of the quarter and that was driven by the Easter check. And with while we are not disclosing weekly sales anymore is you can takes from my comment that Easter was very powerful in terms of the sales result in the month of April. So those factors and when that happened is as we always talk about Mitch the peaks gets to be a little steeper and so we do well when we have a peak like hat and I think that’s what is reflected the customer likes what we’re doing and we have the money that can now be spend disproportionally that money with us. So I can tell you that everything got lifted in April and so proportionately so from that perspective I can’t really call for any particular trends I would say I think it was just generally that as we got better everything got better. I think again as the traffic and people’s willingness to spend money.

Chris Work

Analyst · Robert Baird. Please proceed.

And I would just add to that Mitch on the regional perspective the way we typically look at that is what’s a reasonable standard deviation from the man of 1.8 comp that we landed on in the quarter and as you look across all regions and even internationally really everything was roughly in line obviously our European operations as we said we’re a positive impact on the comp and you’d expect that from a growth business and as tough as it has been in Europe they continue to come positive as they have since we’ve own them and so that was a good piece of our business in Q1 but all other regions we’re within a reasonable deviation from the company average.

Mitch Kummetz

Analyst · Robert Baird. Please proceed.

Okay. And then as a follow-up on Chris on your SG&A outlook I think you said a couple of things I mean I think you said that you expect slower SG&A growth this year than last year but then it sounds like your accruing more for bonuses. Did that I catch that right and is the slower SG&A growth inclusive of more on the bonus side? Robert W. Baird: Okay. And then as a follow-up on Chris on your SG&A outlook I think you said a couple of things I mean I think you said that you expect slower SG&A growth this year than last year but then it sounds like your accruing more for bonuses. Did that I catch that right and is the slower SG&A growth inclusive of more on the bonus side?

Chris Work

Analyst · Robert Baird. Please proceed.

Yes, great. Thanks Mitch. No, let me kind of just back up on SG&A overall because this was an area as we talked about 2013 being an investment year that we did see a spike in the growth of our SG&A line item. So as you look at SG&A for 2014 I think it’s important to note that we will see a benefit in Q from a GAAP basis in Q1, Q2 and Q3 as we were accruing the contingent earnout in the prior year. Now that will be a determent to Q4 and the year in general as we wrap it up excluding charges as we think about SG&A it’s -- our overall SG&A in Q1 had a lower growth and as we look into Q2 we would expect it to see a lower growth on the year we do expect to see higher growth levels that we’ve seen over the front half of the year albeit lower than where our growth was in 2013. So I think when we think about our cost structure it’s important to note that while we’re not planning 2014 to be a heavy investment year, our growth initiatives do have a continuum and we don’t have any specific major projects to call out at this time but we may continue to make incremental investments and what I meant on the incentive piece of the business was that in 2013 we did not accrue more pay to the high level of our incentive level. And so to the extent that we are able to exceed what we believe is a reasonable level of performance, we’ll have to accrue those incentive and pay those incentive levels again which will increase our investment in SG&A.

Mitch Kummetz

Analyst · Robert Baird. Please proceed.

Okay, I got it. Thanks. Robert W. Baird: Okay, I got it. Thanks.

Operator

Operator

And your next question comes from the line of Edward Yruma with KeyBanc. Please proceed.

Edward Yruma

Analyst · KeyBanc. Please proceed.

Hi, good afternoon, thanks for taking my question. I guess a bigger picture question, you know you guys have been incredibly successful at being the authentic action sports retail in the mall but clearly there’s a move towards more diverse fashions I guess, how do you feel about the balance between kind of the core action sports apparel versus potentially street wear and then also as it relates to the percentage of hardgoods that are in the business? Thanks. KeyBanc Capital Markets: Hi, good afternoon, thanks for taking my question. I guess a bigger picture question, you know you guys have been incredibly successful at being the authentic action sports retail in the mall but clearly there’s a move towards more diverse fashions I guess, how do you feel about the balance between kind of the core action sports apparel versus potentially street wear and then also as it relates to the percentage of hardgoods that are in the business? Thanks.

Rick Brooks

Analyst · KeyBanc. Please proceed.

Alright, thanks Ed. So, I’m happy to address that question and again we’ve been doing this a long time right, so we are definitely perceived in the market as a core action sports retailer and, but we have been doing something even more fundamental in the marketplace than just that market that core action sports consumer and we always have been. So in the mid-90s we had a whole urban run with Fubu and South Pole and all sorts of brands and we will see this play out, I can give you numerous examples over the 20 years I’ve been here and how we see that play out. What I’ll tell you that means for our brand, is that we have permission from our customer to do much more than just action sports and we’re really serving this consumer who wants to be different, who wants to be unique, wants to make a statement about who they are and what lifestyle they’re embracing through what they wear and, not just what they wear but they do on a holistic basis. So I just you know historically we kind of get pigeon holed as with action sports retailer. But we’ve always been able to move much more broadly. So what you see us doing with street wear is exactly that, responding to what our customers tell us they want us to do for them and we’re obviously very good at that Ed, and that’s what you’ve seen us do with that. So, now can I tell you what the exact breakdown is between street wear versus what’s skate related or some other lifestyle driven business? Well, now. I really can’t because so many of the brands today have a multiple lifestyle approach, so you might look at a young brand that…

Edward Yruma

Analyst · KeyBanc. Please proceed.

Great, thanks so much. KeyBanc Capital Markets: Great, thanks so much.

Operator

Operator

And your next question comes from the line of Liz Pierce with ACM. Please proceed.

Liz Pierce

Analyst · ACM. Please proceed.

Thanks for taking my question as well, I mean kind of a dovetailing on just what you were speaking about, are there things that are happening perhaps in Europe that would if you can test into the U.S. that might revitalize the men’s in the footwear category? ACM: Thanks for taking my question as well, I mean kind of a dovetailing on just what you were speaking about, are there things that are happening perhaps in Europe that would if you can test into the U.S. that might revitalize the men’s in the footwear category?

Rick Brooks

Analyst · ACM. Please proceed.

So, again are things happening in Europe that might comes this direction that summarizes it?

Liz Pierce

Analyst · ACM. Please proceed.

That’s basically it, yes. ACM: That’s basically it, yes.

Rick Brooks

Analyst · ACM. Please proceed.

Very good, you know I would tell you again that the lifestyles we’re up selling are global lifestyle position so, and a lot of it’s still borne here from the U.S. particularly around street wear and action sports lifestyle, so while there are local brands in Europe that were certainly carrying and representing and our important to us there, we are not seeing many of those make the transition in Europe, and that is none significant really in footwear outside of the big brands already have a presence here like Adidas. So the answer to your question is, really not. Most of it still comes from U.S. and moves outside the U.S. globally.

Liz Pierce

Analyst · ACM. Please proceed.

Have you actually tested some of this I mean it’s or you just know for it does not work? ACM: Have you actually tested some of this I mean it’s or you just know for it does not work?

Rick Brooks

Analyst · ACM. Please proceed.

Well, again we have our -- we have lots of ways to follow what our consumers are asking us for, and these are the little European brands, are not on the radar of the U.S. consumer.

Liz Pierce

Analyst · ACM. Please proceed.

Got it, okay. And then just kind of a follow-up question in terms of that you said you know you’re going to go where your customers tell you to go with that and just maybe backing on Steph’s question, are you still comfortable with the size of the stores? ACM: Got it, okay. And then just kind of a follow-up question in terms of that you said you know you’re going to go where your customers tell you to go with that and just maybe backing on Steph’s question, are you still comfortable with the size of the stores?

Rick Brooks

Analyst · ACM. Please proceed.

You know again I think we have said in some previous calls, and I will echo it again is, we are constantly looking at trying to manage our store portfolio and trying to manage it in a number of ways, so first, from a product perspective we have always been and continue to try to improve our ability to micro-assort the stores. I think we have some of the best, maybe the best micro assortment tools in all of specialty retail, and our buyers are very good at doing this. So we’re not talking about categories of stores Liz, we’re talking about individual stores in terms of how we are trying to merchandise and present the product. So and everything is about little local brands that does support our market to the different mix amongst the bigger brands and different types of products to sell better in that environment. So I think we are way beyond where most people, most of our competitors are at in their ability to micro-assort stores. So you look at and you have capabilities to do that and then you combine that with the omni-channel world where consumers are going to tell us even more about themselves, they’re going to share more data with us. They are going to use the digital world connect to the physical world. I would tell you that I think over the long-term that potentially stores -- we are biased to say that average store sizes over the long-term are more likely to come down than to grow. And as we have said, even in the comments today, we are actively managing our store portfolio because our goal is that if you look at business in a trade area we don’t want to have one more store necessary when it takes to capture that entire market share, while we want to own in that marketplace across all channels. So that is one of the way it is going buying to Steph’s question that we hope over time to understand this better and be able to execute better in this new world and have the exciting number of locations we need to capture all of the share across all of the channels, so that we can maximize the efficiency, productivity and profitability of the business in the trade area.

Liz Pierce

Analyst · ACM. Please proceed.

Great that was actually really helpful, thanks Rick. ACM: Great that was actually really helpful, thanks Rick.

Operator

Operator

And your next question comes from the line of Jeff Van Sinderen with B. Riley. Please proceed.

Jeff Van Sinderen

Analyst · B. Riley. Please proceed.

Good afternoon, I wonder if you can give us more color on how you are thinking about and planning inventory for second half? And then I have a follow-up. B. Riley: Good afternoon, I wonder if you can give us more color on how you are thinking about and planning inventory for second half? And then I have a follow-up.

Rick Brooks

Analyst · B. Riley. Please proceed.

I will give you the headlines, and I will let Chris follow on Jeff. We’re not doing anything different than well I just kind of follow that along with the question from Liz, which is again, we’re planning inventory in incredibly detailed level. And there is our planning processes whatsoever way up. The top-down inventory planning comes down from our planners. Those plans are reconciled along with our sales objectives. So our goal is not been position to be clear where we are at the end of fourth quarter with an overhanging inventory. We want inventory clean, that’s part of being a whole merchant retailer, and I were going to as Chris said in his comments we are in a much better position today relative to if you look at where our sales are, relative to inventory position I were feeling pretty good about it. We’re not going to do -- Jeff, anything different we try to do, we have done historically which is planned the business at a very detailed level and really try to maximize sales so we can minimize markdowns and so the product that we sell to our customers for our brands for a margin.

Chris Work

Analyst · B. Riley. Please proceed.

And I’d just add to that, as we think at the back half of the year, we would land differently, we have been looking at this but we would expect inventory to grow at a pretty similar level to our store count and I would expect per square footage to be relatively flat with the prior year.

Jeff Van Sinderen

Analyst · B. Riley. Please proceed.

Okay that’s helpful. The other thing I just wanted to touch on is your digitally based elements of your business. Is there anything that you are learning there that you would care to share, anything new; and then if there is anything that your line is shaping your plans for the future? B. Riley: Okay that’s helpful. The other thing I just wanted to touch on is your digitally based elements of your business. Is there anything that you are learning there that you would care to share, anything new; and then if there is anything that your line is shaping your plans for the future?

Rick Brooks

Analyst · B. Riley. Please proceed.

There is lots, we’re learning Jeff about the digital world, how we’re interacting with our consumers in that world, how fast our loyalty program is going to fit into all of that, and none of that at this point, I am willing to share. I think you have to -- we all have to think of this, the modern world is just one continuous feedback look. And ultimately we are going to find ways to include that feedback group in predictive abilities and assortment planning in a few years out. But we need to gain scale in all those digital channels we need to get scale in our loyalty programs and that still continued to be our primary focus in royalty at this point is gaining scale so we get consumer insights and we’re learning more all the time in that feedback group. So we think we have lots of great ideas we have lots of ideas and things we like to do and try and experiment with some of them are will be about brand, some of them will be about driving sales and each will each channel will have a different focus based upon where that channels out how that channel interacts with our consumer base.

Jeff Van Sinderen

Analyst · B. Riley. Please proceed.

Okay, fair enough. Thanks and good luck. B. Riley: Okay, fair enough. Thanks and good luck.

Operator

Operator

And your next question comes from the line of Alex Pham with Mizuho Securities. Please proceed.

Alex Pham

Analyst · Mizuho Securities. Please proceed.

Hi there. It’s Alex on for Betty Chen. We’ve heard a number of retailers express difficulty in their Canadian business just wondering if you guys could touch on how Canada is performing anything in the call out in regards to the competitive environment for action sports there and maybe how the team is thinking about the growth opportunity there longer term? Thanks. Mizuho Securities: Hi there. It’s Alex on for Betty Chen. We’ve heard a number of retailers express difficulty in their Canadian business just wondering if you guys could touch on how Canada is performing anything in the call out in regards to the competitive environment for action sports there and maybe how the team is thinking about the growth opportunity there longer term? Thanks.

Rick Brooks

Analyst · Mizuho Securities. Please proceed.

Okay, great. I’ll try to take a shot at that for you Alex. Like I would tell you every market today that we are working is an incredibly competitive marketplace so and Canada was no different upon entry there. I think we understood the competitive landscape well in going into marketplace as there were a couple of good competitors in the marketplace one of them tends to I think to be have been weakened over the last few years. We anticipated and as we went into Canada that we knew that cost structure doing business in Canada was different now look through to the cost real estate we also knew that generally sales performance on a per location would be higher because of the fact that the mall space in Canada is not as built out as it is in the U.S. So I will tell you that as we look at our performance of stores we look at classes of new stores with our board annually and review how we’re doing I will tell you that in aggregate in Canada we are meeting at the objectives as we planned or overall financial metrics. So from that perspective we’re really pleased with how we’re doing it’s playing out on the maturation scale we expected it to and we’re delivering the results we expected to based upon again those primary considerations of different and different cost structure with higher revenue base for new stores. And again we will need to see these are still early reach and we did see this continue to play-out out over the next couple of years as we mature the base up there. We continue we expect to have, how many stores Chris this year will be?

Chris Work

Analyst · Mizuho Securities. Please proceed.

We’ll open our seven stores which would give us 35 total.

Rick Brooks

Analyst · Mizuho Securities. Please proceed.

35, and I think it’s somewhere across those -- what was estimated Chris?

Chris Work

Analyst · Mizuho Securities. Please proceed.

Yes it’s probably about 10% of the U.S. business and we plan another 600-700 stores so we look at that in the 60 and 70 store range.

Rick Brooks

Analyst · Mizuho Securities. Please proceed.

So we have the ways to go Alex with that and I guess I would tell you that maybe we’re bucking the trend relative to what a lot of other retailers have done because we’re pretty happy at this point and we’re hitting the high level metrics in aggregate for the classes that we thought for where we thought we’ll be at this point in time.

Alex Pham

Analyst · Mizuho Securities. Please proceed.

Great. Very helpful, thanks. Mizuho Securities: Great. Very helpful, thanks.

Operator

Operator

And your last question comes from the line of Lee Giordano with CRT Capital. Please proceed.

Lee Giordano

Analyst

Thank you, guys. Good afternoon. I was hoping you could talk a little more about Blue Tomato and the performance you’re seeing there in those stores and online and then what your ultimate goal might be for Blue Tomato overtime as far as store count? Thanks. CRT Capital: Thank you, guys. Good afternoon. I was hoping you could talk a little more about Blue Tomato and the performance you’re seeing there in those stores and online and then what your ultimate goal might be for Blue Tomato overtime as far as store count? Thanks.

Rick Brooks

Analyst

Alright. Alright, just wait a couple of minutes here Lee. Okay. As you obviously saw from the numbers Chris shared in the prepared comments I mean we had a good quarter, first quarter with Blue Tomato and I think as we’ve said every quarter that Blue Tomamto has been part of Zumiez’s family is that we have comped up every quarter that Blue Tomato has in the almost two years that it’s been part of the Zumiez business. So we are taking our look at Europe in the very long-term perspective like we try to take with everything we want to do our expansion in Europe with good quality focus on building over the long-term. So we are thinking about what we’re doing over the five and 10 year window. We don’t think it’s probably going to really substantially moving the needle for our business Lee till we get out in another four years, five years, so we built the base of the scale of our business in Europe. So I can tell you again the team at Blue Tomato is just fantastic and incredibly culture line with what we do, how we do things, it’s been a great partnership. And as you know we work in this empowered world and as far as Zumiez’s value set and they are running the business. Yes, we’re monitoring we’re tracking, we’re green on goals but the guys there are doing it like they’ve done it since the beginning of that business. So, at this point, I would tell you obviously it did hit the astronomical kind of trends is running out the point of time we bought it and that’s why the earnout has been reversed. But we’re pretty happy with where we are at and we’re learning a lot. And as…

Lee Giordano

Analyst

Thank you. CRT Capital: Thank you.

Operator

Operator

And this concludes the question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call over to Brook Marks for closing remarks.

Rick Brooks

Analyst

Alright, well thank you everybody we really appreciate your time and spending with us here in first quarter and we’ll look forward to talking with you as we get to the end of our second quarter, and thanks to you all.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the presentation for today’s conference. You may now all disconnect and have a wonderful day.