US specialty retailer of leather outerwear, accessories and apparel Wilsons The Leather Experts Inc. has reported sales of $25.7 million for the five weeks ended February 3, down from the $27.4 million reported for the four weeks ended January 28, 2006. Sales for the company's stores decreased 19.3% to $321.3 million for 2006 compared with $398.0 million for 2005.

Comparable store sales fell 20% for the five-week period, compared with a 12.7% decrease in comparable month in 2006. For the year-to-date, comparable store sales decreased 17.2% compared with a decrease of 2.9% for 2005.

Commenting on the results chairman and CEO, Michael Searles, said, "We are disappointed in our comparable store sales results for the month, as reduced traffic continues to have a negative impact on sales. Of customers who did visit our stores, average dollars spent per transaction during January increased 12.2% when compared to January last year. In 2007 we will focus on building traffic so that we can deliver improved performance with our new product offering."