PHILADELPHIA – Five Below Inc. today reported broad-based growth in its fiscal 2026 first quarter, with gains among new and existing customers, and across all demographic and geographic segments.
The company, which sells all kinds of stuff that middle schoolers and teenagers find fun, cool and attainable at allowance-friendly prices, posted a 32.5% increase in net sales in the quarter to May 2.
Comparable-store sales were up 22.7% from a year earlier.
Operating income was $154.2 million compared to $50.8 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2025. Net income was $123.1 million compared to $41.1 million a year earlier.
The company opened 49 net new stores and ended the quarter with 1,970 stores in 46 states. That's an increase in stores of 7.9% from the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2025.
“Our continued focus on compelling newness at amazing value and great store execution are at the heart of our operating flywheel. We successfully amplified social media trends and drove outsized traffic through coordinated merchandising and marketing efforts,” CEO Winnie Park said in a statement.
Park said the company's first-quarter performance demonstrates its focus, discipline and agility in navigating macroeconomic uncertainty and delivering compelling product at great value. "With a solid foundation in place, we are well positioned to deliver durable top- and bottom-line growth with our unique brand value proposition as THE destination for the KID and the KID in all of us,” Park said.
Placer.ai, a Silicon Valley firm that uses location analytics to gauge store traffic, said visits to Five Below stores in the year's first quarter jumped nearly 26% from a year earlier, due in part to new store openings and also on the strength of an updated merchandising strategy that has integrated more-expensive items — some of which carry price tags in the $25 to $35 range and had been relegated to the back corners of stores — onto the regular shelves.
“Since taking the helm in December 2024, CEO Winnie Park has integrated the company’s ‘Five Beyond’ items – those priced at $7, $10, $15, and above – throughout the main store floor.” Lila Margalit, content manager at Placer.ai, wrote in an article posted to the firm’s website. “Park has also pushed sharper, more trend-focused merchandising and a marketing approach built around social discovery and creator-led engagement.”
These steps appear to be attracting higher-earning shoppers, Margalit said. “Captured market data shows that the median household income of Five Below’s visitor base rose from $78,500 in 2025 to $80,300 in 2026 – a meaningful uptick after several years of marginal declines.”
Added Margalit, “To be sure, a similar push into higher-price discretionary categories appears to have weighed on some other discount retailers, such as Dollar Tree, this spring. But Five Below has always been a discretionary-first destination – and unlike Dollar Tree, whose shoppers can shift more of their trips to Dollar General as they prioritize basics, Five Below's affordable-splurge appeal isn't easily replicated elsewhere in the value aisle.”
Five Below projects net sales for the full year of between $5.40 billion and $5.48 billion, based on opening of about 150 net new stores and an assumption that comps will increase at a rate of between 6% and 8%. Net income is expected to be in the range of $480 million to $502 million.
