Erik Gruenwedel

January 4, 2018

The For Your Entertainment (f.y.e.) retail chain Jan. 4 reported a 12% decrease in winter holiday sales to $72 million for the nine-week period through Dec. 31, 2017, compared to $81.8 million in the previous-year period.

One of the last (primarily mall-based) entertainment retail chains in operation, f.y.e. saw segment revenue drop 21% when factoring in 7% decline in operating stores.

Corporate parent Trans World Entertainment Corp. said f.y.e. sales were further impacted by an underperforming box office, lower mall foot traffic, in addition to declining market demand for packaged media, among other factors.

“This negatively impacted our lifestyle categories as well,” CEO Mike Feurer said in a statement.

The CEO said f.y.e remains in the midst of “continued structural challenges” while redoubling efforts to differentiate entertainment merchandise and consumer experience.

“[We remain] focused on rightsizing our expenses and inventory levels,” he said.

Meanwhile, ecommerce subsidiary etailz.com, while sells merchandise largely through Amazon, saw revenue increase 42% to $36 million from $25.3 million last year.

Consolidated sales decreased 7% to $108 million, compared to $116.1 million last year.

For the 11 months in the fiscal year, consolidated sales increased 26% to $406 million from $322 million. F.Y.E. sales declined 15% to $248 million from $291.7 million. Etailz.com revenue topped $158 million.