Trans World Entertainment, which operates f.y.e. and Suncoast stores, is opening 18 new stores (presumably f.y.e.) in the second half of 2016, according to CEO Michael Feurer in the company’s conference call on Thursday (transcript via Seeking Alpha).  The new format stores emphasize the “trends” category, the fastest-growing (ok, the only growing) category of business for the chain.  All 18 stores will be new, not re-formats, and will be mall locations scattered around the country. 

Prior to the new stores, TWE was already operating 14 stores under its new format, a mix of conversions and new locations.  “We continue to be encouraged by the performance of the new format stores,”  Feurer said.

The company’s overall store count continues to decline, to 294 stores at mid-year compared to 308 at the same time last year. 

Comp sales for the chain in the recently completed second quarter were flat, behind a 40% increase in trends sales and a 12% overall decline in what it’s calling the “heritage media” categories of video, music, and video games.  Overall sales were down 6.1% to $64.3 million for the quarter, due to the reduced store count.    Trans World lost $4.7 million in the quarter, up from $3.0 million in Q2 last year (which had a one-time settlement of $1.4 million included).