Sales at Trans World Entertainment, parent of the fye chain, were down 25.6% to $76.0 million in the company’s second quarter ended August 3 from $102.2 million in the year ago period.  Declines were led by the etailz ecommerce division, where sales were down 34%.

Sales at the fye chain were down 17.4% to $41.7 million from $50.5 million in Q2 2018.  Almost all of that was due to store closures; comparable store sales were down only 1.2% from the year ago period.  As has been the case recently, sales were up solidly (9.6%) in fye’s "lifestyle" category, which includes games and merch; while media sales were down dramatically (12.8%).

"Our customers continue to respond positively to our unique exclusives and engaging merchandise point-of-view," CEO Michael Feurer said of the results at fye.  Among fye’s exclusives are a line of licensed consumables (see "FYE Offering Exclusive Consumables”).

Trans World lost $8.1 million for the quarter, an improvement from the $9.5 million loss in the same quarter last year.  The bulk of the operating losses were in fye.

The company completed a 1-20 reverse split of its stock on August 15, which kept its share price high enough to avoid delisting (see "Trans World Posts Q1 Loss of $7.8 Million").

Investors fled the stock after the earnings were announced Thursday, driving the price down 25%.