The COVID-19 pandemic was supposed to deliver a knockout punch to department stores and specialty retailers. Instead, many of them are bouncing back healthier, the Wall Street Journal reported. Profits are exceeding 2019 levels at companies ranging from Macy’s Inc. M -2.71% to Ralph Lauren Corp. RL 2.36% Dozens of chains restructured through bankruptcy or worked to shed money-losing locations and now have stronger balance sheets. Even the supply-chain problems bedeviling companies have produced a silver lining: it has helped retailers break a cycle — at least temporarily — of overbuying and discounting that has eroded profits for decades, executives and analysts said. “We were carrying too much inventory for years,” Macy’s Chief Executive Officer Jeff Gennette said Thursday. “Through the pandemic, our opportunity to work through our stock and get in line with demand is a benefit we’ll hold on to going forward.” He said stocking fewer goods translates into less cluttered stores, which is a better experience for customers, and results in more full-priced sales. “It’s not pile it high and let it fly anymore,” Joanne Crevoiserat, CEO of Coach parent Tapestry Inc. said last week, referring to an industry maxim about selling large quantities of goods at low prices. Ms. Crevoiserat said Tapestry had begun reducing inventory even before the pandemic. “We’re not competing on price anymore,” she said.
