December's total sales increased 9%, to $60.2 million, and the company posted a 13% jump for the first 10 months of its fiscal year, to $424.1 million. In the last year, Christopher & Banks opened 59 stores, bringing its total to 707.

The retailer sold 11 million gift cards from Thanksgiving through Christmas, up from nine million last year. Adds CEO Joe Pennington, in a statement, "As we continue to have well-controlled inventories, we expect that January merchandise margins will trend above margins achieved last January."

Meanwhile, company officials are fine-tuning the chains' merchandise to focus more missy-oriented fashion trends. But Christopher & Banks is not changing the age groups it targets, Pennington has stressed. He says the shift will better help the company differentiate itself from discounters like Kohl's.