Sur La Table files for bankruptcy with plans to close nearly half its stores (chainstoreage.com)

*Net sales of $4.24 billion, down 6% compared to last year, inclusive of an estimated 1-point foreign exchange headwind. Net sales were in-line with the company’s expectations for mid-single digit declines in the quarter. -Comparable sales down 5% year-over-year. -Store sales decreased 3% compared to last year. -Online sales decreased 10% compared to last year and represented 41% of total net sales. *Gross margin was 33.6%, deleveraging 10 basis points versus last year. -Merchandise margin increased 20 basis points versus last year as higher discounting and inflationary commodity price increases were offset by lower air freight expense. -Rent, occupancy, and depreciation (ROD) deleveraged 30 basis points versus last year primarily due to lower online sales in the quarter. *Operating loss was $30 million; operating margin of negative 0.7%. *Net loss of $273 million; diluted loss per share of $0.75.

*Third quarter sales and earnings exceed company expectations, with significant improvement from the second quarter *Strengthened financial position during the quarter by fully repaying revolver and ending with $1.9 billion in cash *Strong operating cash flow year-to-date of $910 million *Third quarter comparable sales decrease 13.3% *Third quarter loss per share of ($0.08)

FY23 third quarter service performance scores covering April 1 through April 21, included: *First-Class Mail: 91.6% of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal second quarter. *Marketing Mail: 95.8% of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an increase of 1.2 percentage points from the fiscal second quarter. *Periodicals: 87.9% of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an increase of 1.4 percentage points from the fiscal second quarter.