US specialty retailer of leather outerwear, accessories and apparel, Wilsons The Leather Experts Inc., has reported a further fall in sales. The company reported sales of $15.8 million for the four weeks ended August 26, compared with $19.1 million for the four-week comparable period in 2005. Year-to-date sales for the company's stores decreased 13.7% to $139.7 million compared with $161.9 million for the same period last year.

Comparable store sales decreased 18.5% for the four weeks ended August 26, whilst year-to-date comparable store sales decreased 13.7%.

Michael Searles, chairman and chief executive officer, commented, "As expected, our August comparable store sales results were negatively impacted by the significant transition that has been underway in our mall-based stores. The physical transformation of our stores was completed during the last week of August. New product began to arrive during that week; however, the bulk of our new receipts will be coming in during September and October.”