Pottery Barn Ups W-Sonoma

SAN FRANCISCO-Williams-Sonoma’s year-over-year same-store sales during its Q2, which ended July 31 were up 3.7%, mainly due to the 5.6% jump posted by the 185-store Pottery Barn chain. Williams-Sonoma stores, of which there are 254 operating, posted a 0.2% drop, but those results were better than 2% to 4% fall executives were predicting.

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.