Orchard Supply sees sales momentum

San Jose, Calif.-based Orchard Supply Hardware said it anticipates comp-store sales for the first quarter ending May 4 to increase from 9.0% to 11.0%.

The forecast comes as Orchard entered Oregon with the grand opening events for its Portland and Tigard stores being held April 27. The company also recently opened its new neighborhood format store in Yorba Linda, Calif., and plans to hold the grand opening event for this location on May 4, 2013.

With the new stores, Orchard’s total number of neighborhood format stores rose to 16. The company’s total store count is 89.

“Orchard continues to make solid progress in our efforts to strengthen our capital structure and improve our operating performance,” said Mark Baker, president and CEO of Orchard. “Our supplier partners have done a great job helping to keep our inventories at appropriate levels even while we have been outperforming our sales plan through the start of the spring season. Thanks to the hard work of the entire Orchard team and the strong ongoing relationships we have with our supplier partners and our lenders, we continue to provide our loyal customers with the in-stock product offerings and high level of service to which they are accustomed.”

The retailer also said a previous May 1, 2013, date to reach an agreement with respect to a transaction to deleverage, modify or otherwise address the company’s capital structure has been extended to June 30, 2013.