Sales are booming at large industry customer The Buckle, which operates 442 stores.
January comparable sales jumped 35.3%, while comparable sales in all of Q4 rose 18%.
Those results are interesting for a few reasons.
The narrative in the pandemic is that apparel trends are soft and mall-based stores are struggling as people avoid crowds.
But The Buckle, which sells casual apparel, footwear and accessories and is largely based in malls, is having a very different experience.
The retailer reported that all categories saw strong sales in January.
Men’s: up 30%
Women’s: up 38%
Accessories: up 26%
Footwear: 75%
Having a heavy concentration of stores in the Midwest could also be helping because that region in general tends to have fewer pandemic restrictions.
Glik’s, also based in the Midwest and a large industry apparel customer, is also reporting a strong start to 2021.
When we checked in with CEO Jeff Glik in mid-January, sales at the company’s brick-and-mortar stores were trending 44% over plan.
