Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Bob Simonson - William Blair & Company, LLC.
Bob Simonson - William Blair & Company, LLC
The catalog expense, I think, Mark and Bob, you mentioned that your advertising dollars were down in the first half; they'd be up in the second half. The catalog that just hit, is that in advertising dollars or do you allocate that differently?
Bob Vold
That would be included in amortized - in expenses as the catalog is sent out and we record revenue. So that expense I mean, there's some production potentially, but relatively small to date. I mean, most of that will be expensed as we go through the remainder of the year.
Bob Simonson - William Blair & Company, LLC
Are those expenses, however, allocated part of your advertising estimate of being up or is that in a different line item?
Bob Vold
Again, I think the advertising dollars that we're talking about specifically are probably in the Retail segment. But included in total, we're going to get the benefit of the catalogs in the Retail stores as well.
Bob Simonson - William Blair & Company, LLC
And do I dare go to the area that says how's business been since the end of the quarter or how did it pan out in the months of the quarter?
Mark Baker
Bob, what we're seeing right now is an improving trend. And, you know, the year ago, as we mentioned, when we went through our third quarter our business really came under a great deal of stress by the first part of September. We haven't cycled that part yet, but we are seeing improvement, you know, in the first part of August. But as you know, we're only three or four weeks into the quarter right now as we speak. But we expect it to moderate, and we're up against pretty soft comps of a year ago.
Bob Simonson - William Blair & Company, LLC
Can you reiterate what you said about the categories that are strong and weak?
Mark Baker
The strong categories, stronger than the business as general, have been firearms, firearm security, ammunition, hunting equipment and, surprisingly in some cases, boats - it probably speaks more to our inventory as we grow into the boat business, but we actually grew the boat businesses here - saltwater fishing gear, obviously, as we've rounded out some of these markets, rod and reel combos, camping and footwear.
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