The 88-store Pottery Barn Kids chain was up 4.1%, while the company's 15 outlet units reported gains of 16%. However, Hold Everything, an organizing concept with 11 stores, fell 17.2% during the period, and executives said during their quarterly conference call that they would suspend the chain's expansion.

West Elm, one of Williams-Sonoma's emerging brands, has the potential for the most stores in the chain, says Ed Mueller, the company's CEO, though he did not detail how large the concept could grow. The retailer now operates six of the urban home furnishing units and executives forecast that they will double the chain by the end of their Q4.

Across all of its chains, company officials have planned a total of 37 openings for the fiscal year, and 11 closings, most of the latter in the Williams-Sonoma chain.