Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Sean McGowan with Needham & Company.
Sean McGowan - Needham & Company
Steve, could you give us some sense of how the quarter flowed, month-to-month, and also whether there were any notable geographic disparities in the sales results?
Steven G. Miller
I think how the quarter flowed, April was our strongest month although that was primarily a result of the shift of the Easter that gave April an extra sales day. And we also moved an extra promotion out of May last year into April this year. May lost the promotion we moved to April and we experienced what I call some traditional softness around Memorial Day that we attribute primarily to cooler weather in most of our markets during that important holiday period. June was impacted, as I mentioned in the prepared remarks, by the shift of the Fourth of July holiday two days further into the third quarter. And we moved an associated promotion out of Q2 into Q3.
So, I think the bottom line, if you really remove the effects of the calendar and promotional shifts, I would call our trends really not too dissimilar through the entire quarter, with perhaps a little extra softness around Memorial Day. Our business trends were remarkably consistent over the course of the quarter, other than I think we were arguably a little extra soft over the important Memorial Day weekend and the weather was not very cooperative for that important holiday.
Sean McGowan - Needham & Company
And regarding geographies?
Steven G. Miller
Really, I think during the second quarter sales were really relatively mixed across our market areas. We certainly had areas that performed better, some areas better than others. It’s probably fair to say we saw some greater sales weakness in certain areas of California and other states that have been more impacted by the housing-related issues. I don’t think the consumer climate is particularly robust, arguably, in any of our market areas.
Sean McGowan - Needham & Company
Any particularly strong product categories that you could call out?
Steven G. Miller
We certainly had some areas of our business that performed reasonably well for us. But I don’t think we’re going to get more specific than talking about our major merchandise categories, footwear, hard goods, and apparel, for competitive reasons.
I will tell you I think really more recently and somewhat in the second quarter, I think we’re seeing a trend of what I’ll call stay-at-home products. Staycation I hear it referred to. The stuff that you can use at or near your home and relatively inexpensively. In general, those types of products seem to be outperforming categories that require you to get in your car and drive and in some cases pay to engage in an activity when you get there. Examples may be golf and water or boating-related items.
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