Boot Barn, which now operates stores in 36 states following a May opening in Arkansas and recent store additions in Pennsylvania, Ohio and North Carolina, wants to further expand its retail concept in Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states. Still intent on eventually doubling its store count, senior management at the 264-door specialty chain wants to fill in the California market with locations and is open to tuck-in acquisitions of smaller players within the western specialty sector to reach its growth objectives. The FY21 expansion plan is currently 10 stores.

Currently, the Irvine, CA-based chain is coping with impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, expanding its focus on the work customer and making improvements to its e-commerce segment, which grew 52 percent in the most recent fiscal quarter ended June 27, accounting for approximately 25 percent of the topline. Two more capabilities are being added to Boot Barn’s e-commerce business: store order fulfillment and same-day delivery from stores utilizing a third-party delivery firm.

Despite COVID-19-related store closures, first-quarter sales came in higher than expected, down 20.5 percent to $147.8 million. Same-store brick-and-mortar sales were down 27.1 percent. The retailer reported a strong work boots business during the period, including online orders, and modest growth in its exclusive brands business to 21.9 percent of revenues.

Preliminary same-stores sales for July were down 15 percent in stores as e-commerce grew 24 percent for the month.

“We have seen some customers that were store customers convert over to e-commerce or some variant of omnichannel,” James Conroy, Boot Barn’s president and CEO, told analysts yesterday. “They’re placing their order online and are willing to drive to the store and pick it up or go to the curb for pick up.”

With first quarter end inventories down 3 percent on a comp store basis, Conroy thinks the chain can avoid engaging in promotional pricing wars for the foreseeable future.

“We are in stock at a reasonable, everyday price. And I don’t expect us to have a knee-jerk reaction in the next several month from a promotional standpoint,” Conroy said. “Fortunately, we have really no reason to clear any inventory because we’ve gotten ourselves into such a great spot from an inventory standpoint.”