We have recorded a strong third quarter at Forest Hill – up 8% in non agency revenue compared to the same quarter in 2007. Excellent growth has been achieved in the good margin departments of cards, books, gifts, art and ink. Magazines are line ball – this is a good result given that weeklies are down 8% in unit sales. The 0% change for the department reflects a shift in sales in our newsagency, we rely less on the weeklies and more on special interest and other titles we obsess over.
I have poured over the figures for the quarter in detail because self funded retirees make up a sizeable portion of our customers. Given the economic challenges of this year we were expecting to see sales taper off. We were fighting against this with considerable in-store activity but we still expected to see a slowdown. While it may yet come to our door it has not happened yet, thankfully.
A key part of the growth is attributable to an investment in the business, expanding several departments and introducing new ones. We are planning more of this as we pursue the new newsagency model which we feel is right for our situation. Sure there is doom and gloom in the news – we deal with that by remaining focused on the other side.