Steve Lawrence: Yes so, I’d go back to answer probably last question first I mean we’re investing in opening new stores, because it’s critical to our future. And so we are going to keep pushing forward on this pace. Now that being said we’re moderating it a little bit, right. So this year candidly we guided 15 to 17 new stores, we probably could have opened up a few more stores this year. But we pushed some out of Q4 into Q1, and next year so, we could get more densities – going into the new market. And so, we’re trying to be very deliberate and thoughtful about how we pace out these new stores, it’s kind of going slow. So you can go fast in the future. In terms of the volume expectation, I think it’s really driven by what we described in the call.
Obviously the stores that are in newer markets, is taking a little longer to build brand awareness. So those would be at the lower range of that $12 million range versus stores and existing markets being in or in larger markets being in a higher end of that volume range at $16 million. I think the key is in terms of the number of stores, looking at more mid-sized markets. I would say initially, we were focused primarily on going into large metro markets. And I think as we’ve had some stores in more mid-sized markets be very successful. We’ve got store in Christiansburg, Virginia that’s done very well for us or Heartland in Texas. And so, I think we look at those stores and say okay there’s an appetite for sporting goods stores such as ours sports and outdoor stores, such as ours to go into those markets and really take care of an underserved customer.
So you see us, kind of opening the window a little bit in terms of our consideration set, and that’s what’s really driving more stores. So it’ll be more stores maybe a slightly lower volume, but because they’re in smaller markets the operating costs to run those stores are very favorable and more than offset the slightly lower volume target.
Carl Ford: And well I’ll hit the last kind of two parts of your question as you think about I think you said, like slowing new store growth and headwinds of negative comps. On a negative 6, five comp this year we generated $536 million in cash flow from operations. We invested that $208 million in the capital, $203 million in the share repurchases, $103 million into debt service, and $27 million into dividends. And ended with $10 million more in cash than we did the year before. And that’s on a negative 6, five comp. So I give all the credit to the merchants for their inventory management, but negative comps are not going to cause us to come off of this strategy. We have so much white space we want to open great stores, and we’re going to methodically do that over our long-range plan.
As it relates to EBITDA by vintage they’re all positive. I would tell you at $12 million we’re EBITDA positive depending upon the location that if it’s in the city or something like that below that it gets tough to be EBITDA positive and that’s why we’re just being really discerning. Specifically with these new markets that we’re going into.
Steve Lawrence: Okay so with that oh sorry. I didn’t know if you had more question.
Will Gaertner: No that’s it Steve. Thank you appreciate it.
Steve Lawrence: Okay. No I appreciate it. I appreciate everybody joining us on the call today. Just in closing, our goal over the next year is to move back to top line growth we’ll continue to make investments that will drive returns in future years and allow us to achieve our long-term objectives. We believe that we have a unique concept that resonates with a wide-range consumers and is scalable and transportable. While our long-range plan encompasses targets that we plan to achieve over the next five years, our ultimate long-term goal is to be the best sports and outdoor retailer in the country. The store stretching across the continent and that is what we remain focused on. In closing, I want to thank all 22,000 of our Academy associates, for all the hard work and efforts they put in over the past year.
We continue to believe that our employees are the key ingredient our secret sauce and I know that every one of our team members is going to give it their best effort out there and help more people have fun out there in 2024. Thanks for joining us today and have a great rest of your day.
Operator: Ladies and gentlemen the call is now concluded. Thank you for your participation, you may now disconnect your line.
