Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
Our first question comes from Scott Krasik - C.L. King & Associates, Inc.
Scott Krasik - C.L. King & Associates, Inc.
Talk about the trends maybe beginning and the middle of September and if you can how they’ve continued through October with your wholesale partners as well as in your own retail stores?
Edward R. Rosenfeld
Well, certainly we felt the impact of what’s been going on in the economy and certainly after the financial crisis worsened we did see an impact both in our own retail stores and in our wholesale partners. That being said, because of our exceptional merchandise right now and the great product that Steve and his team have created we’re still outperforming our competitors.
We still are seeing sell throughs in the wholesale customers for instance that exceed what we were achieving last year and our wholesale partners tell us that we are leading the pack in terms of sell through. But, nobody’s immune to what’s happened and we certainly have seen an impact on the business.
Scott Krasik - C.L. King & Associates, Inc.
Have your comps stayed positive through October in retail?
Edward R. Rosenfeld
Quarter to date we’re flat.
Scott Krasik - C.L. King & Associates, Inc.
Then, maybe talk about obviously you got a big boost from having boots early. Now that there’s a lot of boots on the floor and you figure department stores are going to get more aggressive with pricing, what do you have sort of in terms of the deliveries now that will continue to distinguish Madden and continue to perform?
Edward R. Rosenfeld
Well, to date it’s really been the casual boots that have been driving the business, the flat boots, the western inspired looks have been very strong for us but really what we’re seeing just now is new deliveries of dress boots which are starting to really perform so I think that’s going to carry us through the end of the season as well as continuing with new casual styles.
Scott Krasik - C.L. King & Associates, Inc.
Is that more unique or are you on that earlier than because it seems like most people are now on flats and casual?
Edward R. Rosenfeld
We believe so.
Scott Krasik - C.L. King & Associates, Inc.
Can you talk about where your inventory is? It’s up about 12% year-over-year?
Edward R. Rosenfeld
Yes, it’s up about 12% but the sales for fourth quarter certainly support that. In fact, you’ll see that the guidance implies 12% to 16% sales growth in Q4.
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