Tony Bello, product shipping lead, and the America’s National Parks™ Warehouse team are crucial for fulfilling ecommerce and wholesale orders as well as keeping our stores stocked with safety supplies.
Winter 2021 Sales and Operations Update
Eastern National kicked off Fiscal Year 2021 on November 1. At the beginning of the new year, we had 90 park stores open to the public, which represents about 30% of all Eastern National-operated stores. Though not unexpected, we have experienced additional business interruptions during the first two months of this fiscal year. Some city and states issued mandates for public health and safety that restricted travel or forced museum and retail closures throughout the holiday season. Park stores in Pennsylvania and Boston were closed from mid-December, and some remain closed today. The store at Gulf Islands NS remains closed as post-hurricane repairs continue at the Fort Pickens Visitor Center. We are hopeful that these park store operations will resume soon. Out of concern for the safety of our team members, we suspended store and warehouse operations in Washington D.C. and at Arlington National Cemetery in mid-January due to protests and potential unrest leading up to the Presidential Inauguration. These stores reopened shortly after inauguration, though operations continue to shift in the interest of safety.
As we awaited the passing of a federal budget in December, it was prudent to stop inventory movement and replenishment orders. The potential for a government shutdown could have further negatively impacted park store operations and Eastern National’s cash flow following a long year of fiscal challenges. Thankfully, a federal budget was passed, and inventory replenishment has continued.
Sales for the first sales quarter have been 40% of prior year, with 23% of the company’s revenue being generated through ecommerce and wholesale business. On September 1 we implemented a checkout donation option on the America’s National Parks™ Online Store where customers can add a $1, $3, $5, or $10 donation to Eastern National. Since September 1, we’ve received $13,000 in donations.
With an eye towards the spring, we are hopeful that increased safety measures and vaccine distribution will allow us to plan for increased park openings and visitation. We will continue to collaborate with our park partners to seek opportunities to reopen stores safely and efficiently. As a reminder, we encourage our NPS park partners to complete this park operation survey with any plans that may impact Eastern National operations for the 2021 season.