Rent Reductions Help Pier 1 Bounce Back

Pier 1 Import’s impressive return to profitability and sales gains make us wonder about all of those landlords out there that said they would refuse to give any tenants concessions. According to the retailer’s fourth-quarter report, it received rent reductions at 350 of its 1,054 stores.

That break must have had something to do with Pier 1′s impressive fiscal-year earnings. It reported a net income of $87 million, a vast improvement from the $129-million net loss the previous year.

Pier 1 Continues to Defy Haters

Pier 1 just posted a $29-million first-quarter profit. Who would’ve guessed?

Of course, net sales dropped 9.3% and same-store sales were down 7.5% year over year. But even those results weren’t as bad as projected. “The sales declines are getting smaller,” said Alex Smith, the company’s president and chief executive, during its quarterly conference call.

Pier 1 Continues to Hang On

Pier 1 Imports, a retailer we didn’t think would ride things out this long, is still surviving.

Sure, the company didn’t have amazing fiscal-year results, posting a net loss of $29 million, and a same-store sales decline of 9.7% during the fourth quarter. But executives are saying that they expect to close no more than 80 stores this year out of the nearly 1,100 in operation.

Pier 1’s Got Problems

What can we say about Pier 1 Imports that hasn’t been thrown out there already? Probably nothing.

Its stock has traded at under $1 since mid November. Sales haven’t been too, uh, encouraging, after a Q3 same-store sales plunge of 17.8%. It tried to buy Cost Plus last year but then later withdrew its offer. It’s been on nearly every industry observer’s “watch list” for some time now.

Pier 1 Abandons Cost Plus Bid

Well, it looks like a few of Counter Culture’s readers are breathing a sigh of relief.

Pier 1 Imports has decided not to pursue its $81-million offer to acquire Cost Plus World Market just a couple weeks after the latter’s management called the deal “distracting and ill-timed.”

Does a Pier 1-Cost Plus Merger Make Sense?

When we saw that Pier 1 Imports is offering to buy competitor Cost Plus for $81 million, we have to admit that confusion set in.

As much as we like the Cost Plus stores (Where else in the suburbs can you pick up Pinot Noir, Sriracha and a fancy chair under one roof?), the timing of this deal seems a bit off.