Five Below to open up to 400 stores during next two years

Five Below is accelerating what is already one of the most aggressive expansion programs in specialty retail.

As part of its new long-term “Triple-Double” vision, the tween and teen value retailer said it plans to open 375 to 400 new stores during the next two fiscal years, and 550 to 600 new stores over fiscal years 2024 and 2025. Five Below, which opened 170 net new locations in 2020, operated 1,190 stores in 40 states as of the end of January.

"We are increasing our store potential in the U.S. from 2,500+ to 3,500+, or triple our current store count, and we are planning to double our sales and more than double our EPS through fiscal 2025," stated CEO Joel Anderson. We expect to open approximately 1,000 stores during this time.”

Five Below posted net income of $140.2 million, or $2.49 per share, up from $123.9 million, or $2.20 per share, in the year-ago period.  Analysts had been expecting earnings per share of $2.48.

Sales rose 16.1% to $996.3 million from $858.5 million, missing estimates of $1.006 billion. Comparable sales rose 3.4%. Outperforming categories included sports, candy seasonal and style.

For the full year, net sales increased by 45.2% to $2.84 billion.

“We were very pleased with our fourth-quarter results that capped off a record year,” Anderson said. “We delivered sales growth in line with our expectations against the difficult comparison to last year's stimulus-fueled comparable sales increase of 13.8%, and despite the impact of weather in January.”

Looking ahead to 2022, Andersons said the company will continue “to play offense and focus on innovation and experience as we navigate a dynamic macro environment related to the lingering impacts of the pandemic.”

“We are excited to grow our new Beyond store prototype, expand categories and pilot new services to further enhance the customer experience,” he stated. “Our expectations for fiscal 2022 are embedded in our new long-term vision.”

[Read More: Five Below opening 170 to 180 stores; expanding new, higher-priced in-store concept]

For the first quarter, Five Below expects sales in the range of $644 million to $658 million and earnings per share in the range of $0.54 to $0.62. For the year, the company's outlook is for sales in the range of $3.16 billion to $3.26 billion and earnings per share in the range of $5.19 to $5.70.

Looking ahead to 2022, we will continue to play offense and focus on innovation and experience as we navigate a dynamic macro environment related to the lingering impacts of the pandemic. We are excited to grow our new Beyond store prototype, expand categories and pilot new services to further enhance the customer experience. Our expectations for fiscal 2022 are embedded in our new long-term vision.”