Department store Beales sees like for like sales dip in first quarter

19th March | retail | Like for like sales at department store Beales fell 4.5% in the 19 weeks to 14th March, but the company said it believed this was a stronger performance than many of its rivals. The group has 11 UK stores, of which five have furniture departments.  It says gross margins have also come down following promotional discounting.

In January, when the firm released its full year results to 1st November 2008, which showed an 18% fall in turnover to £47.9m, it said it had changed its approach to furniture by trimming the number of suppliers it sources from.