Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Jeffrey Klinefelter - Piper Jaffray.
Jeffrey Klinefelter - Piper Jaffray
Interesting comments on the teen unemployment rates and I was just curious if you could share a little bit more about what you’re expecting from those teen customers as we go through the back half of the year. Clearly summer jobs are important during school breaks. Just wondering if you think a lack of summer jobs would actually carry forward into the second half, is that a factor in your comp forecast for that period and any sense for what percent of your transactions are traffic or any way you can define these actual teen purchasing for themselves versus the parents?
David Alexander
I have a hard time quantifying it. I’m in stores just about every week and obviously see a lot of teenagers shopping. The things that I would tell you is we had expressed in our first quarter conference call a concern about the effect of summer sales on teens not having summer jobs and as the summer plays out, that turned out to be a very big issue in terms of unemployment for teenagers. We have a lot less of a concern about that in the other three quarters of the year and as I mentioned, we’re pleased with some of the trends we’re seeing as we go into the third quarter, particularly related to categories that will be important for us in the third quarter.
So I can’t give you a lot of specific details. I can tell you that we recognized that as a concern before the quarter ever began and do recognize it in the summer. Teens when they’re working this summer tend to spend money on apparel and that is very key to our customer.
Jeffrey Klinefelter - Piper Jaffray
In terms of those trends that you’re encouraged by, going into the back half, can you share a little bit more about what you’re seeing and how you anticipate that being supported by product availability?
David Alexander
Sure. Let me have Beth address both the things we’re seeing good trends in and also talk about product availability for the fall.
Elizabeth Feher
We are actually excited about the positive fashion trends we are seeing in categories that are very important to us. The most significant is probably denim which is critical to our success this fall. We’re feeling strong about denim in ladies, mens, and kids, and based on our season to date trend and the amount of newness within the category, like destructed, crinkles, skinny leg, and color, we’re feeling really good about denim.
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