Tilly’s reports drop in Q1 sales, swings to loss

US retailer Tilly’s has reported a drop in sales and a net loss in the first quarter of the year as its young shoppers were impacted by inflation.

The company generated net sales of 123.6 million dollars in the three months to April 29, down 15.2 percent from the same quarter a year earlier.

Comparable net sales, which includes both physical stores and e-commerce, fell 17.5 percent.

Tilly’s swung to a net loss of 12 million dollars in the quarter, compared to a profit of 0.8 million dollars the prior year.

Inflation impacts Tilly’s customers

“We believe the highly uncertain and inflationary economic environment continues to have a detrimental impact on our pre-teen, teen, and young adult customer demographic,” Tilly’s CEO and president Ed Thomas said in a statement.

“While we believe our product assortments are trend right, the impact of inflation and potential recessionary concerns remain a risk to our business over the near term,” he said.

Looking ahead, Tilly’s now expects Q2 net sales of approximately 148 million dollars to 158 million dollars, which would represent a decrease of between 10 percent and 15 percent from the prior year.

It expects its Q2 pre-tax loss to be in the range of around 5 million dollars to 11 million dollars. It expects a Q2 loss per share of between 0.13 dollars and 0.27 dollars.