Hibbett Sports 2005 Annual Report Download - page 10

categories that meant little to us such as games,
golf and tennis and rationalized our vendor base in
equipment to highlight vendors that did not
have broad exposure to discounters.
The smaller component of our
equipment category is fitness.
Although down for most of the
year due to the lack of compelling
items within the industry as a
whole, we saw an improvement
late in the year with basic weights
and new items such as Ab
Loungers.
Our real estate strategy is
another appealing and important
aspect of the Hibbett growth
story. We maintain a tight
geographic focus, which has
enabled us to leverage our
distribution capabilities and focus on the smaller
markets where we thrive. During fiscal 2005 we
opened a total of 63 stores, with two of those
stores located in New Mexico, our 22nd state.
Although this total was slightly less than our
original goal, we have targeted a net of approximately
70 new stores in fiscal 2006. All of our expansion
in fiscal 2006 will be in the existing 22 states, with
these stores staying within a two-hour driving dis-
tance of existing stores. Even
with the continued growth in
our store base, we still have
identified up to an additional
400 markets within our 22 states
where we could locate our stores.
Of course all of this store
growth and the best merchandise
would not be of much use if we
could not support the growth and
did not translate it into increased
earnings. Fortunately for Hibbett
and our stockholders, we have
been able to achieve earnings
growth well in excess of our sales
and store growth rates. An amazing statistic about
our 5.7% increase in comparable store sales for fiscal
2005 is that we were able to generate that
increase using less comparable store
inventory. Building on a strong per formance
Low-cost
operations have
always been
an integral part
of the Hibbett
culture and one
of the main
reasons we
are successful
in smaller
markets.
HIBBETT SPORTING GOODS 2005
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