Tuesday Morning poised to pounce on excess inventories

2022.05.31

Dallas – Despite a bumpy third quarter, Tuesday Morning’s improved liquidity and plans to enhance its distribution network have the company thinking more ambitiously.

Here are 3 key takeaways from the home furnishings off-price retailer’s third quarter call last week.

Boosting open-to-buy but keeping in-store inventories lean. The market is awash in available inventory, which is allowing Tuesday Morning to open new vendors. “And the product we’ve been offered is priced as aggressively as we have seen in the last two years,” CEO Fred Hand told analysts. But as buyers gobble up deals, the on-the-floor assortments will remain tight, and the company plans the end the fiscal year in July with clean store inventory.

Upping long-term store count. Per new data-driven projections, the 490-unit chain now expects to grow to more than 700 locations in the U.S. over the long term. In addition, the company is negotiating 174 fiscal year 2023 lease expirations, which include potential relocations along with new stores. New stores going forward will be approximately 10,000 gross square feet.

Promotions are dead and gone. Tuesday Morning anniversaried the last of its promo events in December 2021. It is  focused on the value gap versus the competition. “But there’s no promotions whatsoever,” said Hand.

March was a tough month, which Hand attributed to four factors: the Easter shift, lapping stimulus, disruption in Europe and incremental inflationary pressures. Comps in the third quarter ended April 2 inched up just 0.6%. However, traffic in April began to bounce back.

“I would tell you that people are just coming back to Tuesday Morning because of the value offer that we have,” Hand said. “And I think I would tell you, our customer service in the stores has really improved. Our team has done a very nice job of focusing on the service aspects.”