Garden Botanika Inc., Redmond, WA, had April sales of $5.1 million, a 27% drop from April 1998 sales of $7 million. The month’s sales include Internet and mail order sales of $182,000.
For the quarter ended May 1, the company had sales of $17.9 million, down 17% from $21.7 million in first-quarter 1998. Mail order and Internet sales amounted to $689,000. In the first quarter of 1998, mail order net sales were $993,000, and Internet sales, if any, were not broken out.
Garden Botanika filed for chapter 11 protection in late April, and has closed five stores under the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s authorization, and begun the liquidation process for 90 others.
The company’s fortunes have been falling for more than a year. Early in 1998, the company reported that its annual mail order sales had dropped 41% due to a planned reduction in catalog circulation. Throughout 1998, the company’s sales figures consistently were at double-digit levels below those of 1997.
Garden Botanika sells “botanically based ” skin-care products and cosmetics via catalogs and retail outlets.
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