Lauren Hobart: Thanks, Simeon. I think it’s important when you look at the gross margin to understand that our product mix has become increasingly differentiated. And as a result of that, one of our core operating philosophies is always to be very decisive and move inventory so that we can make room for clean and fresh receipts. And that is really what — that’s what drove our comp this past quarter and what’s been driving our comp for some time. Last year, what you’re mentioning, there were a few unusual events. There was a lump in outdoor equipment related to the pandemic. There was a lump in apparel related to the pandemic. That is not the story of this quarter. This quarter, we are very happy with the inventory that we’re bringing in.
And we move decisively to move the product that’s in the stores through to clearance and to outdoor into online channels that we could make room to have an amazing Q4 and amazing holiday season. I do think that’s what drove our comps. And I would remind you that we are still — you take out the impact of strength, we are still 50% higher on a merch margin basis from where we were before. So, we’re very proud of where we are from a gross margin standpoint and expect it to continue to improve.
Operator: We go next now to Robby Ohmes at Bank of America.
Robby Ohmes: Great quarter. Really just two questions. The first was just on House of Sport, any more color you can give on how the ones that are comping are comping? And also, is the store economic model outlook improving? You mentioned the Prudential Center in Boston. I’m assuming you might be getting great lease rates on that relative to that location. Maybe some thoughts on that? And then, the second question is just Going Going Gone! and pop-up stores, can you tell us what kind of role that they played in non-comp sales in the third quarter and how you’re thinking about those for the fourth quarter? Thanks.
Lauren Hobart: Thanks, Robby. I’ll start, and I’ll turn it over to Navdeep. House of Sport stores are performing very, very well. I think it’s important to note that as much as we got a positive impact from those stores, both the first three that we opened more than a year ago and the new stores that just opened in the past six months, we also had growth across the balance of our portfolio and our omnichannel business as well. So, it was a very balanced portfolio, which we’re very happy with from a comp standpoint. The economics of House of Sport are very good. I’ll turn it over to Navdeep to talk about how our lease rates and such. We’re probably not going to get into that. But we have a very high standard for how we look at our real estate investments, and we don’t do anything unless we hurdle a certain amount of ROI. So Navdeep, anything you would add?
Navdeep Gupta: Yes. Robby, thanks for your comments. And as far as the House of Sport is concerned, like we have talked about, we continue to be, first of all, pleased with the performance of the 12 stores that we have opened. And the benefit is not just coming from an economic point of view, which is also great. But we are also seeing our ability to be able to attract new brands and new partners that are coming to showcase their product at House of Sport location. And we feel Prudential Center will be another kind of the top-notch location where the brands would love to showcase the product. We’ll share more details about the economics of these boxes when we share our 2024 expectations because we — our plan is to open 10 additional locations in ‘24.
Coming to your question about the Going Going Gone!. The Going Going Gone! chain and the warehouse plus locations, as we call them, continue to play a very important role in our overall clearance strategy. Like Lauren talked about, the core differentiator for us continues to be the product assortment that we have available to drive the engaged relationship with our athletes. We are seeing our assortment resonate really well with the athletes. And having fresh and new vibrant assortment available in stores is a key part of that strategy. And Going Going Gone! allows us to move any excess or clearance inventory very efficiently into those locations and get a much better economic return than we were able to get in the past. In terms of the noncomp impact, it didn’t have a significant noncomp impact because the number of stores that we had in Q3 this year are very comparable to the number of stores that we had last year.
So 58 stores this year compared to, call it, 56 stores last year in Q3. So, it’s a very comparable view. The noncomp benefit in the Q3 of this year was driven by the Moosejaw business.
Robby Ohmes: Gotcha. That’s helpful. And just Navdeep for 4Q, do you expect sort of similar number of stores versus last year for Going Going Gone!?
Navdeep Gupta: Yes. We expect similar store count to be because we feel like we have reached a good point of where we can operate those number of stores very efficiently. The noncomp in fourth quarter will be Moosejaw as well as the 53rd week, as we have called out.
Operator: Moving next now to Kate McShane at Goldman Sachs.
