<p> While The Fresh Market was unable to breach the already highly competitive Sacramento and Houston markets, the company is <B>still continuing with plans to greatly expand its stores in both California and Texas</b>, said Craig Carlock, CEO, President, and Director during a conference call discussing fourth quarter results with investors. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> When asked what the company will do differently to expand in these two states, Carlock said, “The decisions we’re making to expand slowly reflect the confidence we have in the deals that we’ve struck and also reflects the learnings that we’ve had in California and Texas so far. We need to obtain deals with lower occupancy costs, lower rents, lower capital structures. And when we can find those deals, we’re happy.”</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> So far, The Fresh Market stores in Palo Alto, Santa Barbara, and Houston have been performing strongly with good revenue, and Carlock expects to continue achieving in those markets with further plans of expansion in other areas throughout California and Texas.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> Carlock said that while the nine new stores in California and Texas weighed on corporate earnings, it was not indicative of the profitability and performance of the retailer’s other 142 stores. He suggested that the difficulty in these markets was due to the fact that the company had taken a different approach to expansion. Rather than opening new stores gradually in markets like Chicago and Atlanta, the company attempted to open several stores in a short period of time, which wasn’t enough to increase brand awareness. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> He suggested that by exiting these markets, the company will improve its profit outlook and “allow management to focus its energy on higher return opportunities.”</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> Net sales in the fourth quarter increased to $425.8 million, a 15.1% increase from last year. Comparable store sales increased to $367.5 million, a 3.1% increase. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p> Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow as we continue following The Fresh Market’s expansion into California and Texas.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://ir.thefreshmarket.com/" target="_new">The Fresh Market </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
