The US leather clothing and footwear retailer, Wilsons The Leather Exports, has blamed the war in Iraq for the 7.6% decline in sales seen at its Wilsons Leather outlets in March. Total sales amounted to $33.2 million, a 5.1% decrease the year before.
Joel Waller, chief executive officer commented, "Sales for the month have been clearly impacted by the war with Iraq. Comparable store sales were positive during the first two weeks of the month of March. However, we saw an immediate negative impact on comparable stores sales once the war with Iraq was initiated."
Year-to-date comparable stores sales (excluding the company's now defunct travel subsidiaries) were up 0.3% versus a decrease of 11.1 percent for the same period last year. For all recent stories on Wilsons the The Leather Experts go to the leatherbiz.com search facility and enter ‘Wilsons’ in the search box).
