Burlington Stores Inc (BURL) SEC Annual Report (10-K) for 2018

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

For the fiscal year ended February 3, 2018

OR

For the transition period from to

Commission File Number 001-36107

BURLINGTON STORES, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

(609) 387-7800

(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes   ☒     No     ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.    Yes   ☐     No   ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes   ☒     No   ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes   ☒     No   ☐

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant's knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.   ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer," "smaller reporting company" and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.     ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).    Yes   ☐     No   ☒

The aggregate market value of the common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant on July 28, 2017, the last business day of the registrant's most recently completed second fiscal quarter, was $5,887,925,990. The aggregate market value was computed by reference to the closing price of the common stock on such date.

As of March 2, 2018, there were 67,728,992 shares of common stock of the registrant outstanding.

Documents Incorporated By Reference:

Certain provisions of the registrant's definitive proxy statement for the 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, to be filed within 120 days of the close of the registrant's 2017 fiscal year, are incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K to the extent described herein.

BURLINGTON STORES, INC.

INDEX TO REPORT ON FORM 10-K

FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED FEBRUARY 3, 2018

PART I

Overview

We are a nationally recognized retailer of high-quality, branded merchandise at everyday low prices. We opened our first store in Burlington, New Jersey in 1972, selling primarily coats and outerwear. Since then, we have expanded our store base to 629 stores as of February 3, 2018, inclusive of an internet store, in 45 states and Puerto Rico, and diversified our product categories by offering an extensive selection of in-season, fashion-focused merchandise, including: women's ready-to-wear apparel, accessories, footwear, menswear, youth apparel, baby, home, coats, beauty and gifts. We sell a broad selection of merchandise acquired directly from nationally recognized manufacturers and other suppliers. For the fiscal year ended February 3, 2018, we generated net sales of $6,084.8 million, and earned net income, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBIT (as defined in Part II, Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Key Performance Measures) of $384.9 million, $405.8 million, $696.1 million and $518.3 million, respectively.

As used in this Annual Report, the terms "Company," "we," "us," or "our" refer to Burlington Stores, Inc. and all of its subsidiaries. We were organized in 2013 under the name Burlington Holdings, Inc. and currently exist as a Delaware corporation. Our indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation (BCFWC), was initially organized in 1972 as a New Jersey corporation, was reincorporated in 1983 in Delaware and currently exists as a Delaware corporation. We completed an initial public offering of our common stock in October 2013.  

Fiscal Year End

We define our fiscal year as the 52- or 53-week period ending on the Saturday closest to January 31. This is an annual report for the 53-week fiscal year ended February 3, 2018 (Fiscal 2017). The fiscal years ended January 28, 2017 (Fiscal 2016) and January 30, 2016 (Fiscal 2015) consisted of 52 weeks.

Our Stores

As of February 3, 2018, we operated 629 stores, inclusive of an internet store. Over 99% of our net sales are derived from stores we operate as Burlington stores (Burlington Stores). We believe that our customers are attracted to our stores principally by the availability of a large assortment of first-quality, current, brand-name merchandise at everyday low prices.

Burlington Stores offer customers a complete line of merchandise, including: women's ready-to-wear apparel, accessories, footwear, menswear, youth apparel, baby, home, coats, beauty and gifts. We continue to emphasize our rich heritage of coats and outerwear, and we believe that we are viewed as the destination for coat shoppers. Our broad selection provides a wide range of apparel, accessories and furnishings for all ages. We purchase both pre-season and in-season merchandise, allowing us to respond timely to changing market conditions and consumer fashion preferences. Furthermore, we believe Burlington Stores' substantial selection of staple, destination products attracts customers from beyond our local trade areas. We believe these products drive incremental store traffic and differentiate us from our competitors.

In some of our stores, we grant unaffiliated third parties the right to use designated store space solely for the purpose of selling such third parties' goods, primarily designer handbags. We do not own or have any rights to any trademarks, licenses or other intellectual property used in connection with the brands sold by such unaffiliated third parties.

We believe the breadth of our selection and our ability to successfully operate in stores of varying square footage represent a competitive advantage. Our average store size is approximately 74,000 square feet. We believe that, as we continue to reduce our comparable store inventory, we will be able to reduce the square footage of our stores while continuing to maintain our broad assortment. As a result, we believe major landlords seek us as a tenant because the appeal of our merchandise profile attracts a desired customer base.

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Our store base is geographically diversified with stores located in 45 states and Puerto Rico as set forth below:

Our internet store is excluded from the above table.

Our store sales area is organized by merchandise category with flexibility to quickly expand or contract category offerings in response to changes in consumer preferences. Our typical store features open sight lines, bright overhead lighting and clear signage to promote easy navigation through the store. We highlight the best brands and freshest product in four way fixtures along the aisles with additional merchandise arranged by size in H-racks. We believe our clean, organized merchandise presentation highlights the brands, value, selection and sizing within assortments and promotes a self-service, treasure hunt experience for our customers.

Our store managers are accountable for the sales and profitability of their stores. The store leadership team is comprised of a store manager and one or more assistant managers. The stores are led by their regional team, consisting of a regional vice president and regional managers in operations, human resources and loss prevention. The regional vice president sets the priorities for the team and ensures the stores are supported in their overall mission to grow sales and profitability.

Store Expansion and Real Estate Strategy

We continue to explore expansion opportunities both within our current market areas and in other regions. We believe that our ability to find satisfactory locations for our stores is essential for the continued growth of our business. The opening of stores generally is contingent upon a number of factors, including the availability of desirable locations with suitable structures and the negotiation of acceptable lease terms.

We have a proven track record of new store expansion. Our store base has grown from 13 stores in 1980 to 629 stores, inclusive of an internet store, as of February 3, 2018. If we identify appropriate locations, we believe that we will be able to execute our growth strategy without significantly impacting our current stores. We have identified numerous market opportunities that we believe will allow us to reach 1,000 stores over the long-term.  The table below shows our store openings and closings each of the last three fiscal years, exclusive of relocations.

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Distribution and Warehousing

We have four distribution centers that shipped approximately 96% of merchandise units to our stores in Fiscal 2017. The remaining 4% of merchandise units are drop shipped by our vendors directly to our stores. Our two east coast distribution centers are located in Edgewater Park, New Jersey and Burlington, New Jersey. Our two west coast distribution centers are located in San Bernardino, California and Redlands, California. These four distribution centers occupy an aggregate of 2,786,000 square feet, and each includes processing, shipping and storage capabilities.

We also operate three warehousing facilities to support our distribution centers. The east coast has two supporting warehouses in Burlington, New Jersey. The west coast has one supporting warehouse in Redlands, California. These three warehousing facilities occupy an aggregate of 1,456,000 square feet and primarily serve as storage facilities.

In addition, we occupy approximately 180,000 square feet of space at a third-party logistics center in Plainfield, Indiana to support our e-commerce business.

Customer Service

We are committed to providing our customers with an enjoyable shopping experience in stores that are clean, neat and easy to shop. In training our employees, our goal is to emphasize knowledgeable, friendly customer service and a sense of professional pride. We offer our customers special services to enhance the convenience of their shopping experience, such as layaway, baby gift registry and professional tailors (in selected stores).

We have empowered our store teams to provide an outstanding customer experience for every customer in every store, every day. We have streamlined processes and will continue to strive to create opportunities for fast and friendly customer interactions. Our goal for our stores is to reflect clean, organized merchandise presentations that highlight the brands, value and diversity of selection within our assortments.

Our Off-Price Sourcing and Merchandising Model

Our "open to buy" off-price model enables us to provide our customers with products that are nationally branded, fashionable, high quality and priced right. We have an experienced team of General Merchandise Managers, Divisional Merchandise Managers and buyers focused on improving comparable store inventory turnover, inventory age and freshness of merchandise. We purchase merchandise from many suppliers, none of which accounted for more than 4% of our net purchases during Fiscal 2017, Fiscal 2016 or Fiscal 2015. We have no long-term purchase commitments or arrangements with any of our suppliers, and believe that we are not dependent on any one supplier. We continue to have good working relationships with our suppliers.

We have designed our merchant organization so that buyers focus primarily on buying, planners focus primarily on planning, and information systems help inform data-driven decisions for both groups. Buyers are in the market each week and focus on purchasing great products for great value. We seek to purchase a majority of our merchandise in-season. Buyers spend time interacting face-to-face with new and existing vendors and on continuously evaluating trends in the market to which we believe our customers would respond positively. Our buyers use a merchant scorecard that rates products across four key attributes-fashion, quality, brand and price-to help formalize a framework for buying decisions.

Our merchandising model allows us to provide our customers with a wide breadth of product categories. Sales percentage by major product category is as follows:

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E-Commerce

We employ an e-commerce strategy currently focused on increasing awareness of the breadth of our merchandise selection, great brands and values, as well as driving traffic to our stores and selling merchandise directly from our website. We execute our strategy through our website and through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. In recent years, we have focused on improving our online assortment, optimizing the user experience across devices, and improving our shipping and fulfillment capabilities in order to elevate the digital experience with our company for both new and existing customers.

Customer Demographic

Our core customer is the 25-49 year old woman, with an average annual household income of $25,000-$100,000. The core customer is educated, resides in mid- to large-sized metropolitan areas and is a brand conscious fashion enthusiast. This customer shops for herself, her family, and her home. We appeal to value seeking and fashion conscious customers who are price-driven but enjoy the style and fit of high-quality, branded merchandise.

Marketing and Advertising

We use a variety of broad-based and targeted marketing strategies to efficiently deliver the right message to the targeted audience at the right time. These strategies include national television, direct mail, email, digital marketing, local radio and out-of-home communications. Our broad television broadcast communication and reach is balanced with relevant customer contacts to increase frequency of store visits.

Management Information Systems and Processes

We utilize a combination of industry-standard third party and internally developed information technology and system solutions to support our business functions. We continually evaluate and implement business system technologies and solutions that enhance the consistency of our execution and improve the scalability of business system functions. We utilize standard methodologies to evaluate new initiatives across our entire organization and make data-driven decisions that support our growth and cost management initiatives.

Competition

The U.S. retail apparel and home furnishings markets are highly fragmented and competitive. We compete on the basis of a combination of factors, including among others, price, breadth, quality and style of merchandise offered, in-store experience, level of customer service, ability to identify and respond to new and emerging fashion trends, brand image and scalability. We compete for business with department stores, off-price retailers, specialty stores, discount stores, wholesale clubs, and outlet stores as well as with certain traditional, full-price retail chains that have developed off-pricing concepts. At various times throughout the year, traditional full-price department store chains and specialty shops offer brand-name merchandise at substantial markdowns, which can result in prices approximating those offered by us at our stores.

Seasonality

Our business, like that of most retailers, is subject to seasonal influences.  In the second half of the year, which includes the back-to-school and holiday seasons, we generally realize a higher level of sales and net income. Weather is also a contributing factor to the sale of our clothing. Generally, our sales are higher if the weather is cold during the Fall and warm during the early Spring.  Sales of cold weather clothing are increased by early cold weather during the Fall, while sales of warm weather clothing are improved by early warm weather conditions in the Spring. Although we have diversified our product offerings, we believe traffic to our stores is still driven, in part, by weather patterns.

Trademarks

We own the trademarks, service marks and tradenames that we use in connection with the operation of our business. Our trademarks include "Burlington Stores," "BCF," "Burlington," "Burlington Coat Factory," "Cohoes," "Luxury Linens," "MJM Designer Shoes," and "Baby Depot." We consider these trademarks and the accompanying name recognition to be valuable to our business. We believe that our rights to these properties are adequately protected. Our rights in these trademarks endure for as long as they are used.

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Employees

As of February 3, 2018, we employed approximately 40,000 people, including part-time and seasonal employees. Our staffing requirements fluctuate during the year as a result of the seasonality of our business. We hire additional employees and increase the hours of part-time employees during seasonal peak selling periods. As of February 3, 2018, employees at one of our stores were subject to a collective bargaining agreement.

Available Information

We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act). Therefore, we file reports, proxy statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Copies of such reports, proxy statements, and other information may be obtained by visiting the Public Reference Room of the SEC at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC 20549 or by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. In addition, the SEC maintains a website ( http://www.sec.gov ) that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC.

You can access financial and other information about us in the Investor Relations section of our website, which can be accessed at www.burlington.com . We make available through our website, free of charge, copies of our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed with or furnished to the SEC under Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after electronically filing or furnishing such material to the SEC. The information contained on, or accessible through, our website is not part of this Annual Report and is therefore not incorporated by reference. The reference to our website address is intended to be an inactive textual reference only.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Annual Report contains forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about us, the industry in which we operate and other matters, as well as management's beliefs and assumptions and other statements regarding matters that are not historical facts. For example, when we use words such as "projects," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "should," "would," "could," "will," "opportunity," "potential" or "may," variations of such words or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes, we are making forward looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act) and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. Our forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. Such statements may include proposed store openings and closings, proposed capital expenditures, projected financing requirements, proposed developmental projects, our ability to maintain selling margins, and the effect of the adoption of recent accounting pronouncements and tax reform on our consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows. Actual events or results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those estimated by us include: general economic conditions; our ability to successfully implement one or more of our strategic initiatives; the availability of desirable store locations on suitable terms; changing consumer preferences and demand; industry trends, including changes in buying, inventory and other business practices by customers; competitive factors, including pricing and promotional activities of major competitors and an increase in competition within the markets in which we compete; the availability, selection and purchasing of attractive merchandise on favorable terms; import risks; weather patterns, including, among other things, changes in year-over-year temperatures; our future profitability; our ability to control costs and expenses; unforeseen computer related problems; any unforeseen material loss or casualty; the effect of inflation; regulatory and tax changes; our relationships with employees; the impact of current and future laws and the interpretation of such laws; terrorist attacks, particularly attacks on or within markets in which we operate; natural and man-made disasters, including fire, snow and ice storms, flood, hail, hurricanes and earthquakes; our substantial level of indebtedness and related debt-service obligations; restrictions imposed by covenants in our debt agreements; availability of adequate financing; our dependence on vendors f or our merchandise; domestic events affecting the delivery of merchandise to our stores; existence of adverse litigation; and each of the factors discussed in this Item 1A, Risk Factors as well as risks discussed elsewhere in this Annual Report. While we believe that our assumptions are reasonable, we caution that it is very difficult to predict the impact of known factors, and it is impossible for us to anticipate all factors that could affect our actual results. In addition, as a result of these and other factors, our past financial performance should not be relied on as an indication of future performance. The cautionary statements referred to in this section also should be considered in connection with any subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements that may be issued by us or persons acting on our behalf. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. In light of these risks and uncertainties, the forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this report might not occur. 

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Set forth below are certain important risks and uncertainties that could adversely affect our results of operations, financial conditi on or cash flow and cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements made by us. Although we believe that we have identified and discussed below the key risk factors affecting our business, there may be addit ional risks and uncertainties that are not presently known or that are not currently believed to be significant that may adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition or cash flow. More detailed information regarding certain risk factors described below is contained in other sections of this Annual Report.

Risks Related to Our Business and Our Substantial Indebtedness

A downturn in general economic conditions or consumer spending could adversely affect our business.

Consumer spending habits, including spending for the merchandise that we sell, are affected by, among other things, prevailing global economic conditions, inflation, levels of employment, salaries and wage rates, prevailing interest rates, housing costs, energy costs, commodities pricing, income tax rates and policies, consumer confidence and consumer perception of economic conditions. In addition, consumer purchasing patterns may be influenced by consumers' disposable income, credit availability and debt levels. Slowdown in the U.S. economy, an uncertain global economic outlook or a credit crisis could adversely affect consumer spending habits, resulting in lower net sales and profits than expected on a quarterly or annual basis. Consumer confidence is also affected by the domestic and international political situation. Our financial condition and operations could be impacted by changes in government regulations in areas, including taxes and healthcare. The outbreak or escalation of war, or the occurrence of terrorist acts or other hostilities in or affecting the U.S. could lead to a decrease in spending by consumers. In addition, natural disasters, industrial accidents and acts of war could have the effect of disrupting supplies and raising prices globally which, in turn, may have adverse effects on the world and U.S. economies and lead to a downturn in consumer confidence and spending.

We face increased competition from other retailers that could adversely affect our business.

The retail sector is highly competitive, and retailers are constantly adjusting their business model, promotional activity and pricing strategies in response to changing conditions. We compete on the basis of a combination of factors, including among others, price, breadth, quality and style of merchandise offered, in-store experience, level of customer service, ability to identify and respond to new and emerging fashion trends, brand image and scalability. We compete with a wide variety of large and small retailers for customers, vendors, suitable store locations and personnel. In order to increase traffic and drive consumer spending in the economic environment of the past several years, competitors, including department stores, mass merchants and specialty apparel stores, have been offering brand-name merchandise at substantial markdowns. Continuation of this trend, or the possible effect on consumer buying patterns that improving economic conditions could have, may cause consumer demand to shift from off-price retailers to other retail categories, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.  

Certain traditional, full-price retail chains have developed off-price concepts, which may directly compete with our business. Our competitors, including such retail chains, may seek to emulate facets of our business strategy, which could result in a reduction of any competitive advantage or special appeal that we might possess.  In addition, most of our products are sold to us on a non-exclusive basis. As a result, our current and future competitors may be able to duplicate or improve on some or all of our product offerings that we believe are important in differentiating our stores. If our competitors were to duplicate or improve on some or all of our in-store experience or product offerings, obtaining the products we sell may become increasingly difficult, competition for customers may increase, and our competitive position and our business could suffer.

Our ability to compete with other retailers and to meet our customer expectations may also suffer if we are unable to deliver a superior omnichannel shopping experience for our customers through the integration of our store and online shopping channels.  Omnichannel retailing is rapidly evolving, and we must anticipate and meet changing customer expectations.  If we are unable to continue to meet changes in the competitive environment by successfully executing our e-commerce strategy consistent with customer expectations, or we do not realize a return on our omnichannel investments, our reputation and operating results may be adversely affected.

We may not be able to sustain our growth plans or successfully implement our long-range strategic goals.

Our growth largely depends on our ability to successfully open and operate new stores, as well as to expand our distribution capabilities in order to support that growth.  We intend to open 35 to 40 net new stores each year, while refreshing, remodeling or relocating a portion of our existing store base annually. The success of these strategies is dependent upon, among other things, the current retail environment, the identification of suitable markets and the availability of real estate that meets our criteria for traffic, square footage, co-tenancies, lease economics, demographics, and other factors, the negotiation of acceptable lease terms, construction costs, the availability of financing, the hiring, training and retention of competent sales personnel, and the effective management of inventory to meet the needs of new and existing stores on a timely basis.

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Our proposed expansion will place increased demands on our operational, managerial and administrative resources.  For example, our planned expansion will require us to increase the number of people we em ploy, as well as to monitor and upgrade our management information and other systems, and our distribution infrastructure. These increased demands could cause us to operate our business less effectively, which in turn could have a material adverse effect o n our financial performance.

 We may not be able to execute our growth strategies successfully, on a timely basis, or at all. If we fail to implement these strategies successfully, or if these strategies do not yield the desire outcomes, our financial condition and results of operations would be adversely affected.

Our net sales, operating income and inventory levels fluctuate on a seasonal basis, and decreases in sales or margins during our peak seasons could have a disproportionate effect on our overall financial condition and results of operations.

Our net sales and operating income fluctuate seasonally, with a significant portion of our operating income typically realized during the second half of the year. Any decrease in sales or margins during this period could have a disproportionate effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Seasonal fluctuations also affect our inventory levels. We must carry a significant amount of inventory, especially before the holiday season selling period. If we are not successful in selling our inventory, we may have to write down our inventory or sell it at significantly reduced prices or we may not be able to sell such inventory at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

A reduction in traffic to, or the closing of, the other destination retailers in the shopping areas where our stores are located could significantly reduce our sales and leave us with excess inventory, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, profitability and cash flows.

Many of our stores are strategically located in off-mall shopping areas known as "power centers."  Power centers typically contain three to five big-box anchor stores along with a variety of smaller specialty tenants.  Due to many of our stores being located in such shopping areas, our sales are derived, in part, from the volume of traffic generated by the other destination retailers and the anchor stores in power centers where our stores are located.  Customer traffic to these shopping areas may be adversely affected by the closing of such destination retailers or anchor stores, or by a reduction in traffic to such stores resulting from a regional or global economic downturn, a general downturn in the local area where our store is located, or a decline in the desirability of the shopping environment of a particular power center.  Such a reduction in customer traffic would reduce our sales and leave us with excess inventory, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, profitability and cash flows.  We may respond by increasing markdowns, initiating marketing promotions or transferring product to other stores to reduce excess inventory, which would further decrease our gross profits and net income.

Failure to execute our opportunistic buying and inventory management process could adversely affect our business.

We purchase the majority of our inventory opportunistically, with our buyers purchasing close to need. Establishing the "treasure hunt" nature of the off-price buying experience to drive traffic to our stores requires us to offer changing assortments of merchandise in our stores. While opportunistic purchasing provides our buyers the ability to buy at desirable times and prices, in the quantities we need and into market trends, it places considerable discretion in our buyers, which subjects us to risks related to the pricing, quantity, nature and timing of inventory flowing to our stores. If we are unable to provide frequent replenishment of fresh, high quality, attractively priced merchandise in our stores, it could adversely affect traffic to our stores as well as our sales and margins. We base our purchases of inventory, in part, on our sales forecasts. If our sales forecasts do not match customer demand, we may experience higher inventory levels and need to markdown excess or slow-moving inventory, leading to decreased profit margins, or we may have insufficient inventory to meet customer demand, leading to lost sales, either of which could adversely affect our financial performance. We need to purchase inventory sufficiently below conventional retail to maintain our pricing differential to regular department and specialty store prices, and to attract customers and sustain our margins, which we may not achieve at various times and which could adversely affect our results.

 In order to better serve our customers and maximize sales, we must properly execute our inventory management strategies by appropriately allocating merchandise among our stores and our e-commerce platform, timely and efficiently distributing inventory to such locations, maintaining an appropriate mix and level of inventory in such locations, appropriately changing t he allocation of floor space of stores among product categories to respond to customer demand, and effectively managing pricing and markdowns, and there is no assurance we will be able to do so.  In addition, as we implement inventory localization initiatives, there could be disruptions in inventory flow and placement.  Failure to effectively execute our opportunistic inventory buying and inventory management strategies could adversely affect our performance and our reputation.

  In addition to our own execution, we may need to react to factors affecting inventory flow that are outside our control, such as adverse weather and natural disasters or other changes in conditions affecting our vendors and others in our supply chain, such as political instability, labor issues, including strikes or threats of strikes, or increasing cost of regulations. If we are not able to adjust appropriately to such factors, our inventory management may be affected, which could impact our performance and our reputation.

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Failure to identify customer trends and preferences to meet customer demand could negatively impact our performance.

Because our success depends on our ability to meet customer demand, we work to follow customer trends and preferences on an ongoing basis and to buy inventory in response to those trends and preferences. However, identifying consumer trends and preferences in the diverse product lines and many markets in which we do business and successfully meeting customer demand across those lines and for those markets on a timely basis is challenging. Although our flexible business model allows us to buy close to need and in response to consumer preferences and trends, and to expand and contract merchandise categories in response to consumers' changing tastes, we may not do so successfully, which could adversely affect our sales and the markdowns required to move the resulting excess inventory will adversely affect our operating margins.

 Customers may also have expectations about how they shop in stores or through e-commerce, or more generally engage with businesses across different channels or media (through internet-based and other digital or mobile channels or particular forms of social media), which may vary across demographics and may evolve rapidly. Customers are increasingly using technology and mobile devices to rapidly compare products and prices and to purchase products.  Failure to effectively meet these changing expectations and demands may adversely impact our reputation and our financial results.

If we are unable to renew or replace our store leases or enter into leases for new stores on favorable terms, if our current leases are terminated prior to the expiration of their stated term and we cannot find suitable alternate locations, or if we cannot optimize our existing stores, our growth strategy and profitability could be negatively impacted.

We lease substantially all of our store locations.  Most of our current leases expire at various dates after ten-year terms, the majority of which are subject to our option to renew such leases for several additional five-year periods.  While we have the right to terminate some of our leases under specified conditions, including by making specified payments, we may not be able to terminate a particular lease if or when we would like to close a particular store. If we decide to close stores, we are generally required to continue to perform obligations under the applicable leases, which generally include, among other things, paying rent and operating expenses for the balance of the lease term, or paying to exercise rights to terminate, and performing any of these obligations may be expensive. When we assign leases or sublease space to third parties, we may remain liable on the lease obligations, which could lead to significant expense if the assignee or sublessee does not perform. In addition, when the lease term for the stores in our ongoing operations expire, our ability to renew such expiring leases on commercially acceptable terms or, if such lease cannot be renewed, our ability to lease a suitable alternative location, and our ability to enter into leases for new stores on favorable terms will each depend on many factors, some of which may not be within our control, such as conditions in the local real estate market, competition for desirable properties and our relationships with current and prospective lessors.  As we renew and replace our store leases, we also strive to optimize the size of our existing stores to ensure maximum space utilization, which frequently means adjusting operations to accommodate smaller space through increased store product density and inventory turn optimization.

In addition, to the extent that our new store openings are in existing markets, we may experience reduced net sales volumes in existing stores in those markets. We expect to fund some of our expansion through cash flow from operations, lease payment credits from our lessors, and, if necessary, by borrowings under our line of credit.  If we experience a decline in performance or lease payment allowances from our lessors become unavailable, we may slow or discontinue store openings, relocations, refreshes and/or remodels.

If we are unable to effectively manage our existing portfolio of real estate leases, renew existing leases or lease suitable alternative locations, enter into leases for new stores on favorable terms, or optimize our existing stores, our growth and profitability may be negatively impacted.

Extreme and/or unseasonable weather conditions, or catastrophic events could have a significant adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Extreme weather conditions in the areas in which our stores or distribution centers are located – especially in areas with a high concentration of our stores – could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. For example, heavy snowfall or other extreme weather conditions over a prolonged period might make it difficult for our customers or employees to tra vel to our stores. In addition, unforeseen public health issues such as pandemics or epidemics, natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornados, floods, earthquakes, and other extreme weather or climate conditions, or a combination of these or other factors, could severely damage or destroy one or more of our stores or distribution facilities located in the affected areas, or disrupt our computer systems, thereby disrupting our business operations. Any of these events or circumstances also could disrupt the operations of one or more of our vendors. Day-to-day operations, particularly our ability to receive products from our vendors or transport products to our stores, could be adversely affected, or we could be required to close stores. As a result, our business could be adversely affected.

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 Our business is also susceptible to unseasonable weather conditions. For example, extended periods of unseasonably warm temperatures during the fall or winter seasons or cool weather during the spring or summer seasons cou ld render a portion of our inventory incompatible with those unseasonable conditions, particularly in light of our historical product mix. These prolonged unseasonable weather conditions could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, because a significant portion of our net sales historically have occurred during the second half of the year, unseasonably warm weather during these months could have a disproportionately large effect on our business and materia lly adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Since we do not have long-term contracts with our vendors, if we are unable to purchase attractive brand name merchandise in sufficient quantities at competitive prices, we may be unable to offer an appealing merchandise mix and our sales may be harmed.

Our ability to purchase merchandise opportunistically from third party vendors depends upon the continuous, sufficient availability of high quality merchandise that we can acquire at prices sufficiently below those paid by conventional retailers in order to achieve the value proposition we strive to provide to our customers.  Some of our key vendors may limit the number of retail channels they use to sell their merchandise, which may result in intense competition among retailers to obtain and sell these goods. In addition, most of the brands of our top vendors are sold by competing retailers and some of our top vendors also have their own dedicated retail stores. Moreover, we typically buy products from our vendors on a purchase order basis. We have no long-term purchase contracts with any of our vendors and, therefore, have no contractual assurances of continued supply, pricing or access to products, and any vendor could change the terms upon which they sell to us or discontinue selling to us at any time.  Finally, if our vendors are better able to manage their inventory levels and reduce the amount of their excess inventory, the amount of high quality merchandise available to us could be materially reduced. 

If our relationships with our vendors are disrupted, we may not be able to acquire the merchandise we require in sufficient quantities or on terms acceptable to us. Any inability to acquire high quality merchandise would have a negative effect on our business and operating results because we would be missing products from our merchandise mix unless and until alternative supply arrangements were made, resulting in deferred or lost sales. In addition, events that adversely affect our vendors could impair our ability to obtain desired merchandise in sufficient quantities. Such events include difficulties or problems associated with our vendors' business, finances, labor, importation of products, costs, production, insurance and reputation.

The loss of executives or other key personnel may disrupt our business and adversely affect our financial results.

We depend on the contributions of key personnel in various functions for our continued success.  These executives and other key personnel may be hired by our competitors, some of which have considerably more financial resources than we do.  The loss of key personnel, or the inability to hire, train, motivate and retain qualified employees, or changes to our organizational structure, operating results, or business model that adversely affect morale or retention, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Effective succession planning is also a key factor for our success. Our failure to enable the effective transfer of knowledge and facilitate smooth transitions with regard to key personnel could adversely affect our strategic planning and execution and negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.  If we fail to enable the effective transfer of knowledge and facilitate smooth transitions for key personnel, the operating results and future growth for our business could be adversely affected, and the morale and productivity of the workforce could be disrupted. 

Our failure to attract, train and retain quality employees in appropriate numbers could adversely affect our business.

Our performance depends on recruiting, developing, training and retaining quality sales, systems, distribution center and other employees in large numbers as well as experienced buying and management personnel, and we invest significant resources in training and motivating them to maintain a high level of job satisfaction.  Many of our store employees are in entry level or part-time positions with historically high rates of turnover, which can lead to increased training and retention costs, particularly if employment opportunities increase.  Availability and skill of employees may differ across markets in which we do business and in new markets we ent er, and we need to manage our labor needs effectively.   

In addition, because of the distinctive nature of our off-price model, we must provide significant internal training and development for key employees across the company, including within our buying organization.  Similar to other retailers, we face challenges in securing and retaining sufficient talent in management and other key areas for many reasons, including competition in the retail industry generally and for talent in various geographic markets.  If we do not continue to attract qualified individuals, train them in our business model, support their development and retain them, our performance could be adversely affected or our growth could be limited.

We are also dependent upon temporary personnel to adequately staff our stores and distribution facilities, with heightened dependence during busy periods such as the holiday season and when multiple new stores are opening. There can be no assurance that we will receive adequate assistance from our temporary personnel, or that there will be sufficient sources of suitable temporary personnel to meet our demand. Any such failure to meet our staffing needs or any material increases in associate turnover rates could have a material adverse effect on our business or results of operations.

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Labor costs, including healthcare costs, and other challenges from our large workforce may adversely affect our results and profitability.

We have a large workforce, and our ability to meet our labor needs while controlling costs, including costs of providing health, retirement and other associate benefits, is subject to various factors such as unemployment levels; prevailing wage rates and minimum wage requirements; participant benefit levels; economic conditions; interest rate changes; health and other insurance costs; and the regulatory environment, including health care legislation, and governmental labor and employment and associate benefits programs and requirements.  When wage rates or benefit levels increase in the market, increasing our wages or benefits to compete for employees may cause our earnings to decrease, while failing to increase our wages or benefits competitively or reducing our wages or benefits could result in a decline in our ability to attract or retain employees or in the quality of our workforce, causing our customer service or performance to suffer, which could negatively impact our results.

Parties with whom we do business may be subject to insolvency risks or may otherwise become unable or unwilling to perform their obligations to us.

We are a party to contracts, transactions and business relationships with various third parties, including vendors, suppliers, service providers and lenders, pursuant to which such third parties have performance, payment and other obligations to us. In some cases, we depend upon such third parties to provide essential leaseholds, products, services or other benefits, including with respect to store and distribution center locations, merchandise, advertising, software development and support, logistics, other agreements for goods and services in order to operate our business in the ordinary course, extensions of credit and other vital matters. Economic, industry and market conditions could result in increased risks to us associated with the potential financial distress of such third parties.  

  If any of the third parties with which we do business become subject to bankruptcy, receivership or similar proceedings, our rights and benefits in relation to our contracts, transactions and business relationships with such third parties could be terminated, modified in a manner adverse to us, or otherwise impaired. We cannot make any assurances that we would be able to arrange for alternate or replacement contracts, transactions or business relationships on terms as favorable as our existing contracts, transactions or business relationships, if at all. Any inability on our part to do so could negatively affect our cash flows, financial condition and results of operations.

Many vendors produce merchandise overseas, and our business is exposed to the risk of foreign and domestic operations.

We do not own or operate any manufacturing facilities. As a result, we are dependent upon the timely receipt of quality merchandise from vendors, many of which produce merchandise overseas. Factors which affect overseas production could affect our vendors and, in turn, our ability to obtain inventory and the price levels at which they may be obtained. Factors that cause an increase in merchandise costs or a decrease in supply could lead to generally lower sales and gross margins in the retail industry.

Such factors include:

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Any of the foregoing factors, or a combination thereof, could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Recently, uncertainty has increased with respect to tax and trade policies, tariffs and government regulations affecting trade between the U.S. and other countries. Although we source the majority of our merchandise from third party vendors located in the U.S., the production of that merchandise occurs primarily overseas. Major developments in tax policy or trade relations, such as the disallowance of tax deductions for imported merchandise or the imposition of unilateral tariffs on imported products could increase the cost of products purchased from suppliers in such countries or restrict the importation of products from such countries, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and liquidity.

Our business would be disrupted severely if one of our primary distribution centers were to shut down.

Most of the merchandise we purchase is shipped directly to our distribution centers, where it is prepared for shipment to the appropriate stores. The success of our stores depends on their timely receipt of merchandise, and a strong, efficient and flexible distribution network is critical to our ability to grow and to maintain a low-cost operating structure. A disruption within our distribution network, including the shutdown of or loss of significant capacity by one of our current primary distribution centers, could adversely affect our ability to deliver inventory in a timely manner and significantly disrupt our business. In addition, any failure to continue to add capacity to our existing distribution centers and build out planned additional distribution centers timely and cost effectively could adversely affect our business.  

If we are unable to protect our information systems against service interruption, misappropriation of data or breaches of security, our operations could be disrupted, we may suffer financial losses and our reputation may be damaged.

We rely extensively on various information systems, including data centers, hardware and software and applications to manage many aspects of our business, including to process and record transactions in our stores, to enable effective communication systems, to plan and track inventory flow, to manage logistics and to generate performance and financial reports. In addition, some aspects of our business, like that of most retailers, involve the receipt, storage and transmission of customers' personal information and consumer preferences, as well as confidential information about our employees, our suppliers and our Company, some of which is entrusted to third-party service providers and vendors. We are dependent on the integrity, security and consistent operations of these systems and related back-up systems, software, tools (including encryption technology) and monitoring to provide security and oversight for processing, transmission, storage and the protection of confidential information.

Like most major corporations, however, the Company's information systems are a target of attacks. Electronic security attacks designed to gain access to sensitive information by breaching mission critical systems of large organizations are constantly evolving. Computer hackers or other unauthorized third parties may attempt to penetrate or otherwise gain access to our computer systems or the systems of third parties with which we do business through fraud or other means of deceit and, if successful, misappropriate personal information, payment card or check information or confidential business information. Hardware, software or applications we develop or obtain from third parties may contain defects in design or manufacture or other problems that are not presently known and could unexpectedly compromise information security. In addition, our employees, contractors or third parties with which we do business or to which we outsource business operations may attempt to circumvent our security measures in order to misappropriate such information, and may purposefully or inadvertently cause a breach involving such information. Further, our computer systems and the third-party systems of our vendors we rely on are also subject to damage or interruption from a number of causes, including power outages; computer and telecommunications failures; computer viruses or malware; security breaches; cyber-attacks; acts of war or terrorism; and design or usage errors by our employees or contractors.  

If we or third parties with which we do business were to fall victim to successful cyber-attacks or experience other cybersecurity incidents, including the loss of individually identifiable customer or other sensitive data, we may incur substantial costs and suffer other negative consequences, which may include:

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Despite advances in security hardware, software, and encryption technologies, the methods and tools used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage systems are constantly changing and evolving, and may be difficult to anticipate or detect for long periods of time, and there is no guarantee that the proactive measures we put in place will be adequate to safeguard against all data security breaches or misuses of data. In addition, as the regulatory environment relating to retailers and other companies' obligation to protect such sensitive data becomes increasingly rigorous, with new and constantly changing requirements applicable to our business, compliance with those requirements could result in additional costs, and a material failure on our part to comply could subject us to fines or other regulatory sanctions and potentially to lawsuits.

Although we believe we are diligent in selecting systems and vendors, and implementing procedures to enable us to maintain the integrity of our systems when we modify them, there are additional inherent risks associated with modifying or replacing systems , and with new or changed relationships, including accurately capturing and maintaining data, realizing the expected benefit of the change and managing the potential disruption of the operation of the systems as the changes are implemented. Potential issues associated with implementing technology initiatives and the time and resources required to optimize the benefits of new elements of our systems and infrastructure could reduce the efficiency of our operations in the short term. In addition, any interruption in the operation of our websites, particularly our e-commerce site, could cause us to suffer reputational harm or to lose sales if customers are unable to access our site or purchase merchandise from us during such interruption.

We are subject to payment-related risks that could increase our operating costs, expose us to fraud or theft, subject us to potential liability and potentially disrupt our business.

We accept payments using a variety of methods, including cash, checks, credit and debit cards, and gift cards, and we may offer new payment options over time. Acceptance of these payment options subjects us to rules, regulations, contractual obligations and compliance requirements, including payment network rules and operating guidelines, data security standards and certification requirements, and rules governing electronic funds transfers. These requirements may change over time or be reinterpreted, making compliance more difficult or costly.  

   For certain payment methods, including credit and debit cards, we pay interchange and other fees, which may increase over time and raise our operating costs. We rely on third parties to provide payment processing services, including the processing of credit cards, debit cards, and other forms of electronic payment. If these companies become unable to provide these services to us, or if their systems are compromised, it could potentially disrupt our business. The payment methods that we offer also subject us to potential fraud and theft by criminals, who are becoming increasingly more sophisticated, seeking to obtain unauthorized access to or exploit weaknesses that may exist in the payment systems.  If we fail to comply with applicable rules or requirements for the payment methods we accept, or if payment-related data is compromised due to a breach or misuse of data, we may be liable for costs incurred by payment card issuing banks and other third parties or subject to fines and higher transaction fees, or our ability to accept or facilitate certain types of payments may be impaired. In addition, our customers could lose confidence in certain payment types, which may result in a shift to other payment types or potential changes to our payment systems that may result in higher costs. As a result, our business and operating results could be adversely affected.

Issues with merchandise quality or safety could damage our reputation, sales and financial results.

Various governmental authorities in the jurisdictions where we do business regulate the quality and safety of the merchandise we sell to consumers. Regulations and standards in this area, including those related to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, state regulations like California's Proposition 65, and similar legislation, impose restrictions and requirements on the merchandise we sell in our stores and through e-commerce. These regulations change from time to time as new federal, state or local regulations are enacted. If we or our merchandise vendors are unable to comply with regulatory requirements on a timely basis or at all, or to adequately monitor new regulations that may apply to existing or new merchandise categories, significant fines or penalties could be incurred or we could have to curtail some aspects of our sales or operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial results.

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We rely on our vendors to provide quality merchandise that complies with applicable product safety laws and other applicable laws, but they may not comply with their obligations to do so. Although our arrangements with our vendors frequently provide for indemnification for product liabilities, the vendors may fail to honor those obligations to an extent we consider sufficient or at all. Issues with the quality and safety of merch andise, and issues with the authenticity of merchandise, or customer concerns about such issues, regardless of our fault, could cause damage to our reputation and could result in lost sales, uninsured product liability claims or losses, merchandise recalls and increased costs, and regulatory, civil or criminal fines or penalties, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our financial results.

Difficulty complying with existing laws, rules, regulations, and local codes, or changes in existing laws, rules, regulations, and local codes could negatively affect our growth strategy, business operations and financial performance.

We are subject to federal, state and local laws, rules and regulations in the operation of our business.  In addition to complying with current laws, rules and regulations, we must also comply with new and changing laws and regulations, new regulatory initiatives, evolving interpretation of existing laws by judicial and regulatory authorities, and reforms in jurisdictions where we do business.  Complying with local zoning codes, real estate land use restrictions, employment-related laws, and other local laws across numerous jurisdictions is particularly challenging as we grow the number of our stores in new municipalities and need to stay abreast of changes in such local laws.  The increasing proliferation of local laws, some of which may be conflicting, further complicates our efforts to comply with all of the various laws, rules and regulations that apply to our business.

All of the above legal, regulatory and administrative requirements collectively affect multiple aspects of our business, including those involving labor and employment benefits; health, welfare and finance; real estate management; consumer protection and product safety; climate change, supply chain, energy and waste; use of the internet, including e-commerce, electronic communications, data protection and privacy; and protection of third party intellectual property rights.  Changes to these laws and regulations could increase our costs of compliance or of doing business, and could adversely affect our operating results.  In addition, if we fail to comply with these laws, rules, and regulations, we may be subject to judgments, fines or other costs or penalties, which could materially adversely affect our operations and our financial results and condition.

Changes in accounting standards and subjective assumptions, estimates and judgments by management related to complex accounting matters could significantly affect our financial results or financial condition.

Generally accepted accounting principles and related accounting pronouncements, implementation guidelines and interpretations with regard to a wide range of matters that are relevant to our business, such as inventories and self-insurance reserves, are highly complex and involve many subjective assumptions, estimates and judgments. Changes in these rules or their interpretation, or changes in underlying assumptions, estimates or judgments, could significantly change our reported or expected financial performance or financial condition.

Our future growth and profitability could be adversely affected if our advertising and marketing programs are not effective in generating sufficient levels of customer awareness and traffic.

We rely on advertising to increase consumer awareness of our product offerings and pricing to drive store traffic and traffic to our e-commerce site. In addition, we rely and will increasingly rely on other forms of media advertising, including digital, social media and e-marketing. Our future growth and profitability will depend in part upon the effectiveness and efficiency of our advertising and marketing programs. Our advertising and marketing programs may not be successful if we do not:

Our planned advertising and marketing expenditures may not result in increased total or comparable store sales or generate sufficient levels of product awareness. Further, we may not be able to manage our advertising and marketing expenditures on a cost-effective basis. Additionally, some of our competitors may have substantially larger marketing budgets, which may provide them with a competitive advantage over us.

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Damage to our corporate reputation or brand could adversely affect our sales and operating results.

Building brand reputation is important to our continuing success.  Our reputation is partially based on perceptions of various subjective qualities and overall integrity. Any incident that erodes the trust or confidence of our customers or the general public could adversely affect our reputation and business, particularly if the incident results in significant adverse publicity or governmental inquiry. In addition, information concerning us, whether or not true, may be instantly and easily posted on social media platforms and similar devices at any time, which information may be adverse to our reputation or business. The harm may be immediate without affording us an opportunity for redress or correction.  Damage to our reputation in any form could result in declines in customer loyalty and sales, affect our vendor relationships, development opportunities and associate retention, and otherwise adversely affect our business.

Use of social media by the Company or third parties at our direction may adversely impact our reputation or subject us to fines or other penalties.

There has been a substantial increase in the use of social media platforms, including blogs, social media websites, and other forms of internet-based communications, which allow individuals access to a broad audience of consumers and other interested persons. We have increasingly utilized social media in our marketing and employment recruiting efforts in order to reach as many current and potential new customers and potential employment candidates as efficiently and cost effectively as possible, and have also retained third parties with expertise and distinction in the social media realm to bolster our social media efforts.  As laws and regulations rapidly evolve to govern the use of these platforms, the failure by us, our employees or third parties acting at our direction to abide by applicable laws and regulations in the use of these platforms could adversely impact our reputation or subject us to fines or other penalties.

Legal and regulatory proceedings could have an adverse impact on our results of operations.

We are subject to various legal and regulatory proceedings relating to our business, certain of which may involve jurisdictions with reputations for aggressive application of laws and procedures against corporate defendants. We are impacted by trends in litigation, including class action litigation brought under various consumer protection, employment, and privacy and information security laws. Accruals are established based on our best estimates of our potential liability. However, we cannot accurately predict the ultimate outcome of any such proceedings due to the inherent uncertainties of litigation. Regardless of the outcome or whether the claims are meritorious, legal and regulatory proceedings may require that we devote substantial time and expense to defend our Company. Unfavorable rulings could result in a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

From time to time, we may be subject to legal and business challenges in the operation of our Company due to stockholder proposals, media campaigns, proxy contests, and other such actions instituted by activist stockholders or others. Responding to such actions could be costly and time-consuming, disrupt our operations, may not align with our business strategies and could divert the attention of our Board of Directors and senior management from the pursuit of current business strategies. Perceived uncertainties as to our future direction as a result of stockholder activism or potential changes to the composition of the Board of Directors may lead to the perception of a change in the direction of the business or other instability, and may make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified personnel and business partners.

Circumstances limiting our ability, or the ability of our vendors, to access capital markets could adversely affect our business or financial condition.

Changes in the credit and capital markets, including market disruptions, limited liquidity and interest rate fluctuations, may increase the cost of financing or restrict our access to this potential source of future liquidity. A decrease in the ratings that rating agencies assign to our short- and long-term debt may also negatively impact our access to the debt capital markets and increase our cost of borrowing. These circumstances may negatively impact our access to capital markets, which could have a materially adverse impact on our business or financial condition.

As of February 3, 2018, our total indebtedness was $1,127.0 million, including $1,108.9 million, inclusive of original issue discount, under our $1,200.0 million senior secured term loan facility (Term Loan Facility). We had no outstanding borrowings under our $600.0 million asset-based lending facility (ABL Line of Credit) as of February 3, 2018. Estimated cash required to make

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minimum debt service payments (including principal and interest) for these debt obligations amounts to approximately $55.0 million for the fiscal year ended February 3, 2018.

Our ability to make payments and to refinance our debt, and to fund planned capital expenditures, will depend on our ability to generate cash in the future, which is to some extent subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative, regulatory and other factors that are beyond our control. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow to service our debt and meet our other commitments, we will be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as refinancing all or a portion of our debt, selling material assets or operations or raising additional debt or equity capital. We may not be able to successfully carry out any of these actions on a timely basis, on commercially reasonable terms or at all, or be assured that these actions would be sufficient to meet our capital requirements. In addition, the terms of our existing or future debt agreements, including the Term Loan Facility and the ABL Line of Credit, may restrict us from affecting any of these alternatives. 

Our failure to comply with the agreements relating to our outstanding indebtedness, including as a result of events beyond our control, could result in an event of default that could materially and adversely affect our results of operations and our financial condition.

If an event of default under any of the agreements relating to our outstanding indebtedness occurred, the holders of the defaulted debt could cause all amounts outstanding, with respect to that debt, to be due and payable immediately. Our assets or cash flow may not be sufficient to fully repay borrowings under our outstanding debt instruments if accelerated upon an event of default. Further, if we are unable to repay, refinance or restructure our secured indebtedness, the holders of such debt could proceed against the collateral securing that indebtedness through foreclosure proceedings and/or by forcing us into bankruptcy or liquidation. In addition, any event of default or declaration of acceleration under one debt instrument could also result in an event of default under one or more of our other debt instruments.

We are a holding company that does not conduct any business operations of our own. As a result, we are largely dependent upon cash dividends and distributions and other transfers from our subsidiaries to meet our obligations. The deterioration of income from, or other available assets of, our subsidiaries for any reason could limit or impair their ability to pay dividends or other distributions to us.

Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock

Our stock price has been and may continue to be volatile.

The market price of our common stock has fluctuated substantially in the past and may continue to fluctuate significantly. For example, in Fiscal 2017, our stock price fluctuated from a high of $128.93 to a low of $79.07. Future announcements or disclosures concerning us or any of our competitors, our strategic initiatives, our sales and profitability, our financial condition, any quarterly variations in actual or anticipated operating results or comparable sales, any failure to meet analysts' expectations and sales of large blocks of our common stock, among other factors, could cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate substantially. In addition, the stock market has experienced price and volume fluctuations that have affected the market price of many retail and other stocks that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of these companies.

Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and Delaware law might discourage or delay acquisition attempts for us that stockholders might consider favorable.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws contain provisions that may make the acquisition of the Company more difficult without the approval of our Board of Directors. These provisions:

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These anti-takeover provisions and other provisions under Delaware law could discourage, delay or prevent a transaction involving a change in control of the Company, even if doing so would benefit our stockholders. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for stockholders to elect directors of their choosing and to cause us to take other corporate actions they desire.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders' ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, subject to limited exceptions, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers or other employees to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our certificate of incorporation or our by-laws, or (iv) any other action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine.

The continued operation and expansion of our business will require substantial funding. Accordingly, we do not anticipate that we will pay any cash dividends on shares of our common stock in the near term. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend upon results of operations, financial condition, contractual restrictions, including those under our ABL Line of Credit and Term Loan Facility, any potential future indebtedness we may incur, restrictions imposed by applicable law and other factors our Board of Directors deems relevant. Accordingly, if stockholders purchase shares of our common stock, realization of a gain on investment will depend on the appreciation of the price of our common stock, which may never occur.

Not Applicable.

We own the land and/or buildings for 38 of our stores and have leases for 590 of our stores. Our new stores are generally leased for an initial term of ten to fifteen years, the majority of which are subject to our option to renew such leases for several additional five-year periods. Store leases generally provide for fixed monthly rental payments, plus the payment, in most cases, of real estate taxes and other charges with escalation clauses. In many locations, our store leases contain formulas providing for the payment of additional rent based on sales. Most of our stores are located in regional power centers, strip shopping centers, are freestanding or located in malls.

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We own approximately 235 acres of land in Burlington and Florence, New Jersey on which we have constructed our corporate campus, which includes our corporate headquarters and a warehouse facility. We own approximately 43 acres of land in Edgewater Park, New Jersey on which we have constructed our Edgewater Park, New Jersey distribution center and an office facility. We lease approximately 35,000 square feet of office space in New York City (east coast buying office), as well as 10,000 square feet of office space in Los Angeles, California (west coast buying office).

Like many retailers, the Company has been named in class or collective actions on behalf of various groups alleging violations of federal and state wage and hour and other labor statutes, and alleged violation of state consumer and/or privacy protection statutes. In the normal course of business, we are also party to various other lawsuits and regulatory proceedings including, among others, commercial, product, product safety, employee, customer, intellectual property and other claims.  Actions against us are in various procedural stages.  Many of these proceedings raise factual and legal issues and are subject to uncertainties. To determine the likelihood of a loss and/or the measurement of any loss can be complex. Consequently, we are unable to estimate the range of reasonably possible loss in excess of amounts accrued.  Our assessments are based on estimates and assumptions that have been deemed reasonable by management, but the assessment process relies heavily on estimates and assumptions that may prove to be incomplete or inaccurate, and unanticipated events and circumstances may occur that might cause us to change those estimates and assumptions.  While no assurance can be given as to the ultimate outcome of these matters, we believe that the final resolution of these actions will not have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial position, liquidity or capital resources.

Not applicable.

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PART II

Market Information

Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "BURL." The following table sets forth the quarterly high and low sales prices per share of our common stock during Fiscal 2017 and Fiscal 2016.

Holders

As of March 2, 2018, we had 291 holders of record of our common stock. This figure does not include the significantly greater number of beneficial holders of our common stock.

Dividends

During the past two fiscal years, we have not declared, and do not anticipate declaring in the near term, dividends on shares of our common stock. We currently do, and intend to continue to, retain all available funds and any future earnings to fund all of the Company's capital expenditures, business initiatives, and to support any potential opportunistic capital structure initiatives. Our ability to pay dividends on our common stock will be limited by restrictions on the ability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends or make distributions under the terms of current and any future agreements governing our indebtedness as described in Note 7 to our Consolidated Financial Statements, "Long Term Debt." Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend upon results of operations, financial condition, contractual restrictions, including those under our ABL Line of Credit and Term Loan Facility, any potential indebtedness we may incur, restrictions imposed by applicable law and other factors our Board of Directors deems relevant.

In addition, since we are a holding company, substantially all of the assets shown on our consolidated balance sheets are held by our subsidiaries. Accordingly, our earnings, cash flow and ability to pay dividends are largely dependent upon the earnings and cash flows of our subsidiaries and the distribution or other payment of such earnings to us in the form of dividends.

Stock Performance Graph

The performance graph below and related information shall not be deemed "soliciting material" or to be "filed" with the Securities and Exchange Commission for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act, or otherwise subject to the liabilities under that Section, and shall not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any future filing under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, except to the extent that we specifically incorporate it by reference into such filing.

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The following graph compares the cumulative total stockholder ret urn on our common stock from the closing prices on October 2, 2013 (the date our common stock commenced trading on the New York Stock Exchange) and as of the end of each fiscal year through February 3, 2018, with the return on the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 5 00 Index and the S&P Retailing Index over the same period. This graph assumes an initial investment of $100 and assumes the reinvestment of dividends, if any. Such returns are based on historical results and are not intended to suggest future performance.

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Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers

The following table provides information regarding our purchases of common stock during the three fiscal months ended February 3, 2018:

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The following table presents selected historical consolidated financial data. The historical consolidated balance sheet data and consolidated statement of operations data for Fiscal 2017, Fiscal 2016 and Fiscal 2015 and for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2015 (Fiscal 2014) and February 1, 2014 (Fiscal 2013) have been derived from our historical audited Consolidated Financial Statements.

The historical consolidated financial data presented below should only be read in conjunction with our audited Consolidated Financial Statements (and the related notes thereto) and Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, each of which are included elsewhere in this Annual Report. Our historical consolidated financial data may not be indicative of our future performance.

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Item 7. Management's Discuss ion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

For purposes of the following "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations," unless the context requires otherwise, references to "the Company," "we," "our," or "us" refer to Burlington Stores, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

The following discussion summarizes the significant factors affecting our consolidated operating results, financial condition, liquidity and cash flows as of and for the periods presented below. The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with the "Selected Financial Data" section and our Consolidated Financial Statements, including the notes thereto, appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report.

In addition to historical information, this discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, such as our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions set forth under the caption entitled "Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements," which can be found in Item 1A, Risk Factors. Our actual results and the timing of events may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those set forth in Item 1A, Risk Factors and elsewhere in this Annual Report.

General

We are a nationally recognized retailer of high-quality, branded apparel at everyday low prices. We opened our first store in Burlington, New Jersey in 1972, selling primarily coats and outerwear. Since then, we have expanded our store base to 629 stores as of February 3, 2018, inclusive of an internet store, in 45 states and Puerto Rico, and diversified our product categories by offering an extensive selection of in-season, fashion-focused merchandise, including: women's ready-to-wear apparel, accessories, footwear, menswear, youth apparel, baby, home, coats, beauty and gifts. We sell a broad selection of desirable, first-quality, current-brand, labeled merchandise acquired directly from nationally-recognized manufacturers and other suppliers.

Executive Summary

Overview of Fiscal 2017 Operating Results

Highlights from Fiscal 2017 (53 weeks) compared with Fiscal 2016 (52 weeks) include the following:

Weather-Related Incidents

As a result of the effects of certain weather-related incidents during Fiscal 2017, 82 of our stores were closed for at least one day.  We incurred losses of $23.1 million related to these closures, as well as repair and maintenance costs related to the clean-up of these stores. As of February 3, 2018, we received approximately $11.7 million of insurance proceeds to offset some of the losses.  In addition, we have recorded an $8.9 million receivable related to these losses as of February 3, 2018, as the collection is deemed probable based on the insurance contracts we had in place at the time of the losses.

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Term Loan Repricing and Extension

On November 17, 2017, we completed the repricing and extension of our senior secured term loan facility (the Term Loan Facility), which, among other things, reduced the interest rate margins applicable under the Term Loan Facility from 1.75% to 1.50% in the case of prime rate loans, and from 2.75% to 2.50% in the case of LIBOR loans, with the LIBOR floor continuing to be 0.75%. We also extended the maturity date from August 13, 2021 to November 17, 2024. As a result of this transaction, we recognized a non-cash loss on the extinguishment of debt of $2.9 million. Also in connection with the transaction, we incurred fees of $2.3 million. Refer to Note 7 to our Consolidated Financial Statements, "Long Term Debt," for further explanation.

Store Openings, Closings and Relocations

During Fiscal 2017, we opened 48 new stores, inclusive of five relocations, and closed six stores, exclusive of the aforementioned relocations, bringing our store count as of February 3, 2018 to 629 stores, inclusive of an internet store. We continue to pursue our growth plans and invest in capital projects that meet our financial requirements. During the fiscal year ending February 2, 2019 (Fiscal 2018), we plan to open 35-40 net new stores, which includes 60 gross new stores, along with 20 to 25 store relocations and closings.

Federal Tax Reform

The 2017 U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the Tax Act) was signed into law on December 22, 2017. The Tax Act significantly revises the U.S. corporate income tax by, among other things, lowering the statutory corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%.  The change reduced our effective tax rate by 21.1% for Fiscal 2017, primarily due to a one-time incremental benefit of approximately $93 million related to the re-measurement of net deferred tax positions to reflect the reduced corporate tax rate.

Newly Adopted Accounting Standards

During the first quarter of Fiscal 2017, we adopted the new share based accounting standard. The primary impact of adoption was the prospective recognition of excess tax benefits in the income statement as an income tax benefit rather than equity, which lowered our effective tax rate by 440 basis points and improved our net income per share during the year ended February 3, 2018 by $0.23. Refer to Note 2 to our Consolidated Financial Statements, "Recent Accounting Pronouncements," for a discussion of recent accounting pronouncements and their impact on our Consolidated Financial Statements.

Ongoing Initiatives for Fiscal 2018

We continue to focus on a number of ongoing initiatives aimed at increasing our overall profitability by improving our comparable store sales trends, increasing total sales growth and reducing expenses. These initiatives include:

We intend to continue to increase comparable store sales through the following initiatives:

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We intend to expand and enhance our retail store base through the following initiatives:

We intend to increase our operating margins through the following initiatives:

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Uncertainties and Challenges

As we strive to increase profitability through achieving positive comparable store sales and leveraging productivity initiatives focused on improving the in-store experience, more efficient movement of products from the vendors to the selling floors, and modifying our marketing plans to increase our core customer base and increase our share of our current customers' spending, there are uncertainties and challenges that we face as an off-price retailer of apparel and accessories for men, women and children and home furnishings that could have a material impact on our revenues or income.

Seasonality of Sales and Weather Conditions . Our sales, like most other retailers, are subject to seasonal influences, with the majority of our sales and net income derived during the second half of the year, which includes the back-to-school and holiday seasons.

Weather continues to be a contributing factor to the sale of our clothing. Generally, our sales are higher if the weather is cold during the Fall and warm during the early Spring. Sales of cold weather clothing are increased by early cold weather during the Fall, while sales of warm weather clothing are improved by early warm weather conditions in the Spring. Although we have diversified our product offerings, we believe traffic to our stores is still driven, in part, by weather patterns.

General Economic Conditions. Consumer spending habits, including spending for the merchandise that we sell, are affected by, among other things, prevailing global economic conditions, inflation, levels of employment, salaries and wage rates, prevailing interest rates, housing costs, energy costs, commodities pricing, income tax rates and policies, consumer confidence and consumer perception of economic conditions. In addition, consumer purchasing patterns may be influenced by consumers' disposable income, credit availability and debt levels.

A slowdown in the U.S. economy, an uncertain global economic outlook or a credit crisis could adversely affect consumer spending habits resulting in lower net sales and profits than expected on a quarterly or annual basis. Consumer confidence is also affected by the domestic and international political situation. Our financial condition and operations could be impacted by changes in government regulations in areas including taxes and healthcare. The outbreak or escalation of war, or the occurrence of terrorist acts or other hostilities in or affecting the U.S., could lead to a decrease in spending by consumers. In addition, natural disasters, industrial accidents and acts of war in various parts of the world could have the effect of disrupting supplies and raising prices globally which, in turn, may have adverse effects on the world and U.S. economies and lead to a downturn in consumer confidence and spending.

We closely monitor our net sales, gross margin, expenses and working capital. We have performed scenario planning such that, if our net sales decline, we have identified variable costs that could be reduced to partially mitigate the impact of these declines. If we were to experience adverse economic trends and our efforts to counteract the impacts of these trends are not sufficiently effective, there could be a negative impact on our financial performance and position in future fiscal periods.

Competition and Margin Pressure. We believe that, in order to remain competitive with off-price retailers and discount stores, we must continue to offer brand-name merchandise at a discount to prices offered by other retailers as well as an assortment of merchandise that is appealing to our customers.

The U.S. retail apparel and home furnishings markets are highly fragmented and competitive. We compete for business with department stores, off-price retailers, specialty stores, discount stores, wholesale clubs, and outlet stores as well as with c ertain traditional, full-price retail chains that have developed off-price concepts . At various times throughout the year, traditional full-price department store chains and specialty shops offer brand-name merchandise at substantial markdowns, which can result in prices approximating those offered by us at our Burlington Stores. We anticipate that competition will increase in the future. Therefore, we will continue to look for ways to differentiate our stores from those of our competitors.

The U.S. retail industry continues to face increased pressure on margins as overall challenging retail conditions have led consumers to be more value conscious. Our "open to buy" paradigm, in which we purchase both pre-season and in-season merchandise, allows us the flexibility to purchase less pre-season with the balance purchased in-season and opportunistically. It also provides us with the flexibility to shift purchases between suppliers and categories. This enables us to obtain better terms with our suppliers, which we expect to help offset any rising costs of goods.

Changes to import and export laws could have a direct impact on our income and an indirect impact on consumer prices. Unfortunately, we cannot predict any future changes in such laws.

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Key Performance Measures

We consider numerous factors in assessing our performance. Key performance measures used by management include net income , Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBIT, comparable store sales, gross margin, inventory, store payroll as a percentage of net sales and liquidity.

Net income . We earned net income of $384.9 million during Fiscal 2017 compared with net income of $215.9 million during Fiscal 2016. This improvement was primarily driven by our improved gross margin and a one-time incremental tax benefit from the Tax Act, partially offset by an increase in our selling, general and administrative expenses and depreciation and amortization. We earned net income of $215.9 million during Fiscal 2016 compared with net income of $150.5 million for Fiscal 2015. This improvement was primarily driven by our improved gross margin, partially offset by increases in our selling, general and administrative expenses and income tax expense.

Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBIT : Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBIT are non-GAAP financial measures of our performance.

We define Adjusted Net Income as net income, exclusive of the following items, if applicable: (i) net favorable lease amortization; (ii) costs related to debt amendments and secondary offering; (iii) stock option modification expense; (iv) loss on extinguishment of debt; (v) impairment charges; (vi) amounts related to certain litigation; (vii) advisory fees and (viii) other unusual, non-recurring or extraordinary expenses, losses, charges or gains, all of which are tax effected to arrive at Adjusted Net Income.

We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income, exclusive of the following items, if applicable: (i) interest expense, net; (ii) loss on extinguishment of debt; (iii) income tax expense (benefit); (iv) depreciation and amortization; (v) impairment charges; (vi) stock option modification expense; (vii) costs related to debt amendments and secondary offering; (viii) amounts related to certain litigation; (ix) advisory fees and (x) other unusual, non-recurring or extraordinary expenses, losses, charges or gains.

We define Adjusted EBIT as net income, exclusive of the following items, if applicable: (i) interest expense, net; (ii) loss on extinguishment of debt; (iii) income tax expense (benefit); (iv) impairment charges; (v) stock option modification expense; (vi) net favorable lease amortization; (vii) costs related to debt amendments and secondary offering; (viii) amounts related to certain litigation; (ix) advisory fees and (x) other unusual, non-recurring or extraordinary expenses, losses, charges or gains.

We present Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBIT, because we believe they are useful supplemental measures in evaluating the performance of our business and provide greater transparency into our results of operations. In particular, we believe that excluding certain items that may vary substantially in frequency and magnitude from operating income are useful supplemental measures that assist in evaluating our ability to generate earnings and leverage sales, and to more readily compare these metrics between past and future periods.

Adjusted Net Income has limitations as an analytical tool, and should not be considered either in isolation or as a substitute for net income or other data prepared in accordance with GAAP. Among other limitations, Adjusted Net Income does not reflect:

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For Fiscal 2017, Adjusted Net Income improved $173.5 million to $405.8 million. This improvement was the result of our improved gross margin and a one-time incre mental tax benefit from the Tax Act, partially offset by increased selling, general and administrative expenses, as well as increased depreciation and amortization. For Fiscal 2016, Adjusted Net Income improved $57.7 million to $232.3 million. This improve ment was the result of our improved gross margin and a reduction in our interest expense, partially offset by increased costs, primarily selling, general and administrative expenses and income tax expense, net of the tax effect of the adjustments cited abo ve (refer to the sections below entitled "Results of Operations" for further explanation).

The following table shows our reconciliation of net income to Adjusted Net Income for Fiscal 2017, Fiscal 2016 and Fiscal 2015:

Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and should not be considered either in isolation or as a substitute for net income or other data prepared in accordance with GAAP. Among other limitations, Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect:

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For Fiscal 2017, Adjusted EBITDA improved $111.5 million to $696.1 million. For Fiscal 2016, Adjusted EBITDA improved $100.5 million to $584.6 million. These improvements in Adjusted EBITDA were the result of our improved gross margin, partially offset by increased selling, general and administrative expenses (refer to the sections below entitled "Results of Operations" for further explanation).

The following table shows our reconciliation of net income to Adjusted EBITDA for Fiscal 2017, Fiscal 2016 and Fiscal 2015:

Adjusted EBIT has limitations as an analytical tool, and should not be considered either in isolation or as a substitute for net income or other data prepared in accordance with GAAP. Among other limitations, Adjusted EBIT does not reflect:

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For Fiscal 2017, Adjusted EBIT improved $93.5 million to $518.3 million. For Fiscal 2016, Adjusted EBIT improved $88.7 million to $424.8 million. These improvements were primarily driven by our improved gross margin, partially offset by increases in our selling, general and administrative expenses (refer to the section below entitled "Results of Operations" for further explanation).

The following table shows our reconciliation of net income to Adjusted EBIT for Fiscal 2017, Fiscal 2016 and Fiscal 2015:

Comparable Store Sales . Comparable store sales measure performance of a store during the current reporting period against the performance of the same store in the corresponding period of the previous year. The method of calculating comparable store sales varies across the retail industry. As a result, our definition of comparable store sales may differ from other retailers.

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We define comparable store sales as sales of those stores, including our online store, commencing on the first day of the fiscal month one year after the end of their grand opening activities, which normally conclude within the fir st two months of operations. If a store is closed for seven or more days during a month, our policy is to remove that store from our calculation of comparable stores sales for any such month, as well as during the month(s) of their grand re-opening activit ies.  The table below depicts our comparable store sales during Fiscal 2017, Fiscal 2016 and Fiscal 2015, all of which are calculated on a 52 week basis.

During Fiscal 2017, there were 19 stores that were temporarily closed for seven or more days due to weather-related incidents. In accordance with our policy, we removed these stores from our calculation of comparable stores sales for the month(s) in which the stores were closed for seven or more days.  In addition, we temporarily closed five stores during Fiscal 2017 for relocation, and one during Fiscal 2016. We have removed these stores from our calculation of comparable stores sales for the month(s) in which the stores were closed for seven or more days, as well as during the month(s) of their grand re-opening activities. Refer to the section below entitled "Results of Operations" for further explanation on the impact of the weather-related incidents on our net sales.

Various factors affect comparable store sales, including weather conditions, current economic conditions, the timing of our releases of new merchandise and promotional events, the general retail sales environment, consumer preferences and buying trends, changes in sales mix among distribution channels, competition and the success of marketing programs.

Gross Margin . Gross margin is the difference between net sales and the cost of sales. Our cost of sales and gross margin may not be comparable to those of other entities, since some entities include all of the costs related to their buying and distribution functions, and other costs, in cost of sales. We include certain of these costs in the line items "Selling, general and administrative expenses" and "Depreciation and amortization" in our Consolidated Statements of Income. We include in our "Cost of sales" line item all costs of merchandise (net of purchase discounts and certain vendor allowances), inbound freight, distribution center outbound freight and certain merchandise acquisition costs, primarily commissions and import fees. Gross margin as a percentage of net sales expanded approximately 70 basis points to 41.5% during Fiscal 2017, compared with 40.8% during Fiscal 2016. The improvement was driven by strong merchandise margins. In addition, product sourcing costs remained flat, which are included in the line item "Selling, general and administrative expenses" in our Consolidated Statements of Income. Gross margin as a percentage of net sales during Fiscal 2015 was 40.0%.

Inventory . Inventory at February 3, 2018 increased to $752.6 million from $701.9 million at January 28, 2017. This increase was primarily driven by the inventory required for our 37 net new stores opened since January 28, 2017, as well as an increase in our pack-and-hold inventory, which was 25% of total inventory at the end of Fiscal 2017 compared to 23% at the end of Fiscal 2016.

In order to better serve our customers and maximize sales, we continue to refine our merchandising mix and inventory levels within our stores. By appropriately managing our inventories, we believe we will be better able to deliver a continual flow of fresh merchandise to our customers. We continue to move toward more productive inventories by increasing the amount of current inventory as a percent of total inventory. Comparable store inventory, which is calculated on a 52 weeks basis, decreased approximately 7% as of February 3, 2018 as a result of our ongoing initiative to reduce inventory levels and increase inventory turnover.

Inventory turnover and comparable store inventory turnover are performance metrics that indicate how efficiently inventory is bought and sold. They each measure the length of time that we own our inventory. 

 Inventory turnover is calculated by dividing cost of goods sold by the 13-month average cost value of our inventory for the period being measured. Our inventory turnover rate improved to 4.6 turns per year during Fiscal 2017, compared with 4.2 turns per year during Fiscal 2016.

Comparable store inventory turnover, which is determined on a 52-week basis, is calculated by dividing comparable store sales by the average comparable store retail value of inventory for the period being measured. The comparable store retail value of inventories is estimated based on the original sales price of items on hand reduced by retail reductions, which include sales, markdowns taken, an estimated shortage adjustment and employee discounts, for our comparable stores. The calculation is based on a rolling 13 month average of inventory (at estimated retail value) and the last 12 months' comparable sales. Our comparable store inventory turnover rate improved approximately 9% during Fiscal 2017.

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The difference between inventory turnover and comparable s tore inventory turnover is primarily the result of not including distribution center and warehouse inventory as well as inventory at new and non-comparable stores. Inventory held at our warehouses and distribution centers includes merchandise being readied for shipment to our stores and "pack-and-hold" inventory acquired opportunistically for future store release. The magnitude of pack-and-hold inventory, at any one point in time, is dependent on the buying opportunities identified in the marketplace.

We present inventory turnover because it demonstrates how effective we are at managing our inventory. We present comparable store inventory turnover as we believe this is a useful supplemental metric in evaluating the effectiveness of our merchandising efforts, as a faster comparable store inventory turnover generally leads to reduced markdowns and more fresh merchandise in our stores.  

Store Payroll as a Percentage of Net Sales . Store payroll as a percentage of net sales measures our ability to manage our payroll in accordance with increases or decreases in net sales. The method of calculating store payroll varies across the retail industry. As a result, our store payroll as a percentage of net sales may differ from other retailers. We define store payroll as regular and overtime payroll for all store personnel as well as regional and territory personnel, exclusive of benefits and payroll charges related to corporate and warehouse employees. Store payroll as a percentage of net sales was 8.5% during both Fiscal 2017 and Fiscal 2016. We were able to utilize efficiencies realized through the continued simplification of store operating procedures and improvement of execution to offset (i) minimum wage increases at our stores, as well as (ii) store payroll for our Puerto Rico stores with no related sales at the stores that were closed during Fiscal 2017 as a result of the weather-related incidents. Store payroll as a percentage of net sales was 8.6% during Fiscal 2015.

Liquidity.  Liquidity measures our ability to generate cash. Management measures liquidity through cash flow and working capital position. Cash flow is the measure of cash generated from or used in operating, financing, and investing activities. Cash and cash equivalents increased $51.7 million during Fiscal 2017, resulting in a cash and cash equivalent balance of $133.3 million as of February 3, 2018, compared with an increase in cash and cash equivalents of $60.7 million during Fiscal 2016. The decrease in our cash flow was primarily driven by increased purchases of treasury stock and increased purchases of property and equipment. These increased cash outflows were partially offset by changes in the net borrowings on our ABL Line of Credit (no net change during Fiscal 2017 compared with $167.4 million net repayments during Fiscal 2016). Refer to the section below entitled "Liquidity and Capital Resources" for further explanation.

Changes in working capital also impact our cash flows. Working capital equals current assets (exclusive of restricted cash) minus current liabilities. We had a working capital deficit at February 3, 2018 of $47.0 million compared with a working capital deficit of $96.3 million at January 28, 2017. The improved working capital was primarily related to the increases in our cash and cash equivalents and inventories. Prepaid rent also increased from January 28, 2017, due to the timing of our fiscal calendar. These increases were partially offset by an increase in our accounts payable from January 28, 2017 as a result of our 37 net new stores opened during Fiscal 2017 and the timing of our inventory purchases.

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Results of Operations

The following table sets forth certain items in the Consolidated Statements of Income as a percentage of net sales for the periods indicated.

Performance for Fiscal Year (53 weeks) Ended February 3, 2018 (Fiscal 2017) Compared with Fiscal Year (52 weeks) Ended January 28, 2017 (Fiscal 2016)

Net sales

Net sales improved $518.7 million, or 9.3%, to $6,084.8 million, primarily attributable to the following:

We believe that the comparable store sales increase was primarily due to the improved execution of our off-price model. During Fiscal 2017, we closed a total of 19 stores due to weather-related incidents. In accordance with our policy, we removed these stores from our calculation of comparable stores sales for the month(s) in which the stores were closed for seven or more days.  The impact of these store closures are reflected in the total sales results for Fiscal 2017, and reduced the incremental contribution from new and non-comparable sales by approximately $47 million.

Cost of sales

Cost of sales as a percentage of net sales improved approximately 70 basis points to 58.5% during Fiscal 2017, primarily driven by strong merchandise margins. Product sourcing costs were flat, which are included in the line item "Selling, general and administrative expenses" in our Consolidated Statements of Income. On a dollar basis, cost of sales increased $261.8 million, or 7.9%, primarily driven by our overall increase in sales and costs incurred during the 53 rd week of Fiscal 2017.

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Selling, general and administrative e xpenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of net sales improved 40 basis points during Fiscal 2017. The following table details selling, general and administrative expenses for Fiscal 2017 compared with Fiscal 2016:

Store related costs as a percentage of net sales improved approximately 10 basis points during Fiscal 2017, driven by leverage in occupancy costs. We were able to utilize efficiencies realized through the continued simplification of store operating procedures and improvement of execution to offset (i) minimum wage increases at our stores, as well as (ii) store payroll for our Puerto Rico stores with no related sales at the stores that were closed during Fiscal 2017 as a result of the hurricanes. On a dollar basis, the $102.2 million increase was primarily driven by our new and non-comparable stores, as well as costs incurred during the 53 rd week of Fiscal 2017.

Product sourcing costs as a percentage of net sales remained flat during Fiscal 2017.

Corporate costs increased $12.0 million during Fiscal 2017, primarily driven by an increase in our stock-based compensation.

Marketing and strategy costs as a percentage of net sales improved 10 basis points during Fiscal 2017, primarily driven by our increased leverage from our national television advertising.

Costs related to debt amendments and secondary offering

During Fiscal 2017 and Fiscal 2016, we recorded costs related to debt amendments of $2.3 million and $1.3 million, respectively, representing legal and placement fees incurred in connection with the repricing and extension of our Term Loan Facility in Fiscal 2017, and the repricing of our Term Loan Facility in Fiscal 2016. Refer to Note 7, "Long Term Debt," to our Consolidated Financial Statements for further details regarding these transactions.

Depreciation and amortization

Depreciation and amortization expense related to the depreciation and amortization of fixed assets and the amortization of favorable and unfavorable leases amounted to $201.1 million during Fiscal 2017 compared with $183.6 million during Fiscal 2016. The increase was primarily driven by our investments in new and non-comparable stores, as well as depreciation and amortization for the 53 rd week during Fiscal 2017.

Impairment charges-long-lived assets

Impairment charges related to long-lived assets were $2.1 million and $2.5 million during Fiscal 2017 and Fiscal 2016, respectively. We recorded impairment charges related to store-level assets for four stores and five stores during Fiscal 2017 and Fiscal 2016, respectively. During Fiscal 2016, we also recorded impairment charges for capital expenditures for previously impaired stores. Refer to Note 6 to our Consolidated Financial Statements, "Impairment Charges," for further discussion.

The recoverability assessment related to these store-level assets requires various judgments and estimates, including estimates related to future revenues, gross margin rates, store expenses and other assumptions. We base these estimates upon our past and expected future performance. We believe our estimates are appropriate in light of current market conditions. However, future impairment charges could be required if we do not achieve our current revenue or cash flow projections for each store.

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Other income, net

Other income, net (consisting of breakage income, gains and losses on disposition of assets, investment income and other miscellaneous items) decreased $1.9 million to $8.9 million during Fiscal 2017. The decrease in other income was primarily driven by the losses recognized related to damage to our stores caused by certain weather-related incidents during Fiscal 2017, as well as a gain on the sale of one of our owned stores during Fiscal 2016 that did not repeat in Fiscal 2017.

Loss on extinguishment of debt

During Fiscal 2017 and Fiscal 2016, we recorded a loss on extinguishment of debt of $2.9 million and $3.8 million, respectively, as a result of the repricing and extension of our Term Loan Facility in Fiscal 2017 and the repricing of our Term Loan Facility in Fiscal 2016. Refer to Note 7, "Long Term Debt," to our Consolidated Financial Statements for further details regarding our debt transactions.

Interest expense

Interest expense increased $2.6 million to $58.8 million, primarily driven by an increase in the amortization of financing costs associated with our interest rate cap contracts from accumulated other comprehensive income into interest expense, as well as the impact of rising LIBOR rates during Fiscal 2017 on the ABL Line of Credit and the unhedged portion of the Term Loan Facility. This increase was partially offset by the lower average balance of the ABL Credit Facility in Fiscal 2017 compared to Fiscal 2016, as well as the repricing of the Term Loan Facility.

Our average interest rates and average balances related to our ABL Line of Credit and our Term Loan Facility for Fiscal 2017 compared with Fiscal 2016 are summarized in the table below:

Income tax expense

Income tax expense was $44.1 million for Fiscal 2017 compared with $117.3 million for Fiscal 2016. The effective tax rate was 10.3% related to pretax income of $429.0 million for Fiscal 2017, and the effective tax rate was 35.2% related to pretax income of $333.2 million for Fiscal 2016. The decrease in the effective tax rate was primarily the result of the impact of the Tax Act and the inclusion of excess tax benefits from stock compensation within the tax provision upon our adoption of Accounting Standard Update (ASU) No. 2016-09, "Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting" (ASU 2016 – 09) in the first quarter of 2017. The Tax Act was signed into law on December 22, 2017.  The Tax Act significantly revises the U.S. corporate income tax by, among other things, lowering the statutory corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%.  The change reduced the effective tax rate by 21.1% for Fiscal 2017, primarily due to a one-time incremental benefit of approximately $93 million related to re-measurement of net deferred tax positions to reflect the reduced statutory corporate tax rate. As we complete our analysis of the Tax Act, collect and prepare necessary data, and interpret any additional guidance issued by the U.S. Treasury Department, the IRS, and other standard-setting bodies, we may make adjustments to the provisional amounts.

Net income

We earned net income of $384.9 million during Fiscal 2017 compared with net income of $215.9 million for Fiscal 2016. The improvement in our net income was primarily driven by our improved gross margin and decreased income tax expense as a result of the Tax Act, partially offset by an increase in our selling, general and administrative expenses, as well as depreciation and amortization expense.

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Performance for Fiscal Year (52 weeks) Ended January 28, 2017 (Fiscal 2016) Compared with Fiscal Year (52 weeks) Ended January 30, 2016 (Fiscal 2015)

Net sales

Net sales improved $467.1 million, or 9.2%, to $5,566.0 million, primarily attributable to the following:

We believe that the comparable store sales increase was primarily due to the improved execution of our off-price model. We also benefited from the transition of our fragrance sales from leased department rental income to an owned business, as discussed below.

Other revenue

Other revenue (consisting of layaway, shipping and handling, alteration, dormancy and other service charges, subleased rental income and rental income from leased departments) decreased $6.0 million to $24.9 million, primarily driven by a reduction in rental income from third party fragrance sales. During Fiscal 2015, we began the conversion of our fragrance business, which was previously operated under a licensing arrangement, to an owned category which is recorded in the line item "Net sales" in our Consolidated Statements of Income. As of January 28, 2017, fragrance was exclusively an owned business.  

Cost of sales

Cost of sales as a percentage of net sales improved approximately 80 basis points to 59.2% during Fiscal 2016, primarily driven by strong merchandise margins. This improvement was partially offset by the approximate 20 basis point increase in product sourcing costs, which are included in the line item "Selling, general and administrative expenses" in our Consolidated Statements of Income. On a dollar basis, cost of sales increased $237.7 million, or 7.8%, primarily driven by our overall increase in sales.

Selling, general and administrative expenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of net sales improved approximately 30 basis points during Fiscal 2016. The following table details selling, general and administrative expenses for Fiscal 2016 compared with Fiscal 2015: