Discount retailer Five Below bucking trend for brick and mortars, adding 145 new stores

The company will end 2019 with nearly 900 stores nationwide after the addition of the stores, according to a corporate statement.

Net sales at Five Below increased 19.4 percent to $602.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, equivalent of 23.2 percent increase when excluding the 53rd week in 2017. For the full year, net sales excluding the 53rd week of 2017 increased 23.5 percent in 2018, according to the statement.

The company expects net sales to reach as high as $1.885 billion in 2019 because of the planned stores and an estimated 3 percent increase in comparable sales.