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MERCHANDISE INVENTORIES
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6 Months Ended |
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Jul. 30, 2011
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| MERCHANDISE INVENTORIES [Abstract] | |
| MERCHANDISE INVENTORIES |
2. MERCHANDISE INVENTORIES
The Company assigns cost to store inventories using the retail inventory method, determined on a weighted average cost basis. Since inception through fiscal 2009, the Company used one inventory pool for this calculation. Over the years, the Company has invested in retail technology systems that have allowed it to refine the estimate of inventory cost under the retail method. On January 31, 2010, the first day of fiscal 2010, the Company began using approximately thirty inventory pools in its retail inventory calculation. As a result of this change, the Company recorded a non-cash charge to gross profit and a corresponding reduction in inventory, at cost, of $26.3 million in the first quarter of 2010. This was a prospective change and did not have any effect on prior periods. This change in estimate to include thirty inventory pools in the retail method calculation is preferable to using one pool in the calculation as this gives the Company a more accurate estimate of cost of store level inventories.
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