Leslie’s Poolmart Reports $3.6-Million Quarterly Loss

Leslie’s Poolmart, a Chatsworth-based retailer of swimming pool supplies, reported that its first-quarter loss widened to $3.63 million from the $2.78 million it lost in the same period a year earlier.

The loss for the quarter that ended March 31 came despite an 11% increase in sales, to $11.6 million from $10.4 million a year before.

The company typically loses money in the winter. But in the latest quarter, it blamed the big loss partly on the blizzard in the eastern half of the country in March and on higher costs related to the opening of 15 stores and the acquisition of 14 Sandy’s Pool Supply stores in late 1992.