Five Below Ups Store-Opening Goal

Five Below Inc. (Philadelphia) describes itself as a “trend-right, high-quality extreme-value retailer for pre-teens and teens.” That approach – centered around pricing most merchandise between $1 to $5 – appears to be resonating with its target audience in today’s turbulent economy, as the retailer announced that it was upping its guidance for the first quarter of its 2025 fiscal year on several fronts:

• The company expects to open 55 new stores in the period, up from the prior guidance of about 50.
• Net sales for the period are expected to be about $967 million, versus the earlier projection of $905 million to $925 million.
• Comparable sales are expected to increase roughly 6.7%, an increase over the prior guidance of a flat to 2% increase.

The company included those revised projections in a news release announcing that Five Below Co-Founder and Executive Chair Tom Vellios will transition into an advisory role to the retailer’s board and management through the end of calendar year 2025, and thus not stand for re-election to the board at the company’s next shareholders meeting on June 12. As a result, his employment as executive chair will conclude as of the annual meeting date.

Vellios said, “I co-founded Five Below in 2002 with one goal – to become THE destination for pre-teens and teens by delivering trend-right, high-quality product at extreme value in a fun shopping experience. Nearly 23 years later, with a maniacal focus on working back from the customer and the efforts from extraordinary teams, we’ve become an iconic, leading value retailer with over 1800 stores and growing. Last summer, we had a mandate to restore that focus and the performance this business should deliver. With the amazing talent we have across the company, we executed the reset and swiftly got the business back on track in the third quarter by focusing on product, value and store experience, and we built on this progress in the fourth quarter. Our customer focus has sharpened with Winnie Park as CEO, and she has intensified the reinvigoration of the business, helping drive the strong first quarter performance we are previewing today in our updated guidance.”

Five Below has 1800-plus stores in 44 states.