TILE SHOP HOLDINGS, INC. - Annual Report: 2021 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

☒  Annual report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021

or

☐  Transition report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

For the transition period from to

Commission File Number: 001-35629

TILE SHOP HOLDINGS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

14000 Carlson Parkway, Plymouth, Minnesota 55441

(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)

(763) 852-2950

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒  No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒  No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐  No ☒

The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates computed by reference to the price at which the common equity was last sold as of the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter was approximately: $288,587,839.

As of February 28, 2022, the registrant had 51,925,256 shares of common stock outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Certain information required by Part III is incorporated by reference from the Company’s definitive Proxy Statement for the Annual Meeting of Stockholders, or an amendment to this Form 10-K, which the Company intends to file with the SEC within 120 days after the fiscal year end covered by this report. 

TILE SHOP HOLDINGS, INC. FORM 10-K

PART I

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Overview

The Tile Shop, LLC (“The Tile Shop”) was founded in 1985 and Tile Shop Holdings, Inc. (“Holdings,” and together with its wholly owned subsidiaries, including The Tile Shop, the “Company” or “we”) was incorporated in Delaware in June 2012. We are a specialty retailer of natural stone and man-made tiles, setting and maintenance materials, and related accessories in the United States. Our assortment includes over 6,000 products from around the world. Natural stone products include marble, travertine, granite, quartz, sandstone, slate, and onyx tiles. Man-made products include ceramic, porcelain, glass, cement, wood look, and metal tiles. The majority of our tile products are sold under our proprietary Rush River and Fired Earth brand names. We purchase our tile products, accessories and tools directly from our global network of suppliers. We manufacture our own setting and maintenance materials, such as thinset, grout and sealer, under our Superior brand name, as well as work with other suppliers to manufacture private label products. As of December 31, 2021, we operated 143 stores in 31 states and the District of Columbia, with an average size of approximately 20,000 square feet.

We believe that our long-term vendor relationships, together with our design, manufacturing and distribution capabilities, enable us to offer a broad assortment of high-quality products to our customers, who are primarily homeowners and professionals, at competitive prices. We have invested significant resources to develop our proprietary brands and product sources and believe that we are a leading retailer of natural stone and man-made tiles, setting and maintenance materials, and related accessories in the United States.

In 2021, we reported net sales and income from operations of $370.7 million and $20.6 million, respectively. Our 2020 and 2019 net sales were $325.1 million and $340.4 million, respectively, and our 2020 and 2019 income (loss) from operations was $6.4 million and $(1.4) million, respectively. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, we had total assets of $340.8 million and $342.7 million, respectively.

Competitive Strengths

We believe that the following factors differentiate us from our competitors and position us to continue to grow our specialty retailer business.

Broad Product Assortment at Attractive Prices – We offer over 6,000 natural stone and man-made tile products, setting and maintenance materials, accessories, and tools. We are able to maintain competitive prices by purchasing tile and accessories directly from producers and manufacturing our own setting and maintenance materials.

Customer Service and Satisfaction – Our sales personnel are highly-trained and knowledgeable about the technical and design aspects of our products. In addition, we provide one-on-one installation training as required to meet customer needs. We accept returns up to three months following the date of the sale, with no restocking fees.

Inspiring Customer Experience – In each store, our products are brought to life by showcasing a broad array of the items we offer in up to 50 different vignettes of bathrooms, kitchens, fireplaces, foyers, and other distinct spaces. Our stores are spacious, well-lit, and organized by product type to simplify our customers’ shopping experience.

Global Sourcing Capabilities – We have long-standing relationships with our tile suppliers throughout the world and work with them to design products exclusively for us. We believe that these direct relationships differentiate us from our competitors.

Proprietary Branding – We sell the majority of our products under our proprietary brand names, which helps us to differentiate our products from those of our competitors. We offer products across a range of price points and quality levels, which allows us to target discrete market segments and to appeal to diverse groups of customers.

Centralized Distribution System – We service our store locations from five distribution centers. Our distribution centers, located in Michigan, Oklahoma, New Jersey, Virginia, and Wisconsin, are located to cost effectively service our existing stores.

Strategic Plan

We are committed to carrying the best assortment, offering the best service, and showcasing the best presentation in our industry. These principles have always been core to our strategy and will continue to be as we move into 2022.

Key elements of our 2022 strategy include:

People First – We pride ourselves on offering the best service in our industry, and our employees are the key to our success. We are committed to investing in training and development programs to further enhance the skill sets of our employees. We are also taking steps to improve engagement, communication and collaboration across our team.

Focused Retail Execution – We continue to believe that our biggest opportunity for sales growth and EBITDA expansion is tied to our ability to improve productivity in each of our stores. We have defined critical success measures for each of our stores, tactics to drive improvement in each area of focus, and reporting processes to monitor progress.

Supply Chain and Assortment Management – Over the last year, we have encountered a number of product shortages, due in part to the impact of COVID-19. We are refining our approach to manage inventory levels and order activity to ensure we maintain adequate supply and appropriate inventory turnover. Additionally, refining an industry leading assortment is a foundational aspect of our strategy. Our assortment includes good, better, and best options for our customers within each of the product categories we carry in our stores and online. We continue to focus on maintaining an assortment that differentiates our brand.

Sales Model

We principally sell our products directly to homeowners and professionals. With regard to individual customers, we believe that due to the average cost and relative infrequency of a tile purchase, many of our individual customers conduct extensive research using multiple channels before making a purchase decision. Our sales strategy emphasizes customer service by providing comprehensive and convenient educational tools on our website and in our stores for our customers to learn about our products and the tile installation process. Our website contains a broad range of information regarding our tile products, setting and maintenance materials, and accessories. Customers can order samples, view catalogs, or purchase products from our stores. Customers can choose to have their purchases delivered or picked up at one of our stores. We believe this strategy also positions us well with professional customers who are influenced by the preferences of individual homeowners.

Our stores are designed to emphasize our products in a visually appealing showroom format. Our average store is approximately 20,000 square feet, with a majority of the square footage devoted to the showroom. Several thousand square feet is used for warehouse space, which is used primarily to hold customer orders waiting to be picked up or delivered. Our stores are typically accessible from major roadways and have significant visibility to passing traffic. We can adapt to a range of existing buildings, whether free-standing or in shopping centers. All of our stores are leased.

Unlike many of our competitors, we devote a substantial portion of our store space to showrooms, including samples of our products and up to 50 different vignettes of bathrooms, kitchens, fireplaces, foyers, and other distinct spaces that showcase our products. Our showrooms are designed to provide our customers with a better understanding of how to integrate various types of tile in order to create an attractive presentation in their homes. Many stores are also equipped with a training center designed to teach customers how to properly install tile.

A staffing model for a typical store consists of a manager, an assistant manager, sales associates, and a warehouse leader. Our store managers are responsible for store operations and for overseeing our customers’ shopping experience. We offer financing to customers through a branded credit card provided by a third-party consumer finance company.

Marketing

We utilize a variety of marketing strategies and programs to acquire and retain customers, including both consumers and trade professionals. Our advertising primarily consists of digital media, direct marketing, including email and postal mail, in store events, and mobile advertisements. We continually test and learn from new media and adjust our programs based on performance.

Our website, TileShop.com, supports desktop, tablet, and mobile devices and is designed for consumers, trade professionals and industry stakeholders to learn about our brand, our value propositions, and our product assortment and installation techniques, and to look up our store locations and account information. On social media, #TheTileShop provides current and prospective customers a high level of brand engagement and enables customers to share their finished projects in our inspiration gallery.

Products

We offer an extensive and complete assortment of natural stone and man-made tile products, sourced directly from our suppliers. Natural stone products include marble, travertine, granite, quartz, sandstone, slate, and onyx tiles. Man-made products include ceramic, porcelain, glass, cement, wood look, and metal tiles. Our wide assortment of accessories, including trim pieces, mosaics, pencils, listellos, and other unique products, encourages our customers to make a fashion statement with their tile project and helps us to deliver a high level of customer satisfaction and drive repeat business. We also offer a broad range of setting and maintenance

materials, such as thinset, grout, sealers, and accessories, including installation tools, shower and bath shelves, drains, and similar products. We also offer customers delivery service through third-party freight providers. We sell most of our products under our proprietary brand names, including Superior Adhesives & Chemicals, Superior Tools & Supplies, Rush River, and Fired Earth. In total, we offer over 6,000 different tile products, setting and maintenance materials, and accessory products. The percentage of our net sales represented by each product category was as follows for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020:

Recently, many of our vendors have begun to communicate price increases in response to inflationary cost pressure. While we seek to manage price and availability risks related to supplies through procurement strategies, these efforts may not be successful, and we may experience adverse impacts due to rising prices of such products. While we have adjusted, and plan to continue to adjust, our pricing as a result of the current cost pressures, we may not be able to adjust the prices of our products, especially in the short-term, to recover any cost increases in materials.

Suppliers

We have long-standing relationships with our suppliers throughout the world and work with them to design and manufacture products exclusively for us. We believe that these direct relationships differentiate us from our competitors.

We currently purchase tile products from approximately 170 different suppliers. Our top ten tile suppliers accounted for 50% of our tile purchases in 2021. Our largest supplier accounted for 13% of our total purchases in 2021. We believe that alternative and competitive suppliers are available for many of our products. The percentage of our total purchases from the following continents was as follows for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020:

Distribution and Order Fulfillment

We take possession of our products in the country of origin and arrange for transportation to our five distribution centers located in Michigan, Oklahoma, New Jersey, Virginia and Wisconsin. We also manufacture many of our setting and maintenance materials in Michigan, Oklahoma, Virginia, and Wisconsin. We maintain a large inventory of products in order to quickly fulfill customer orders.

We fulfill customer orders primarily by shipping our products to our stores where customers can either pick them up or arrange for home delivery. We continue to evaluate logistics alternatives to best serve our store base and our customers.

Competition

The retail tile market is highly-fragmented. We compete directly with regional and local specialty retailers of tile, factory-direct stores, a large number of privately-owned, single-site stores, and online-only competitors. In addition, we compete with large national home improvement centers that offer a wide range of home improvement products, including flooring. We also compete indirectly with companies that sell other types of floor coverings, including wood floors, carpet, and vinyl. The barriers of entry into the retail tile industry are relatively low and new or existing tile retailers could enter our markets and increase the competition that we face. Many of our competitors enjoy competitive advantages over us, such as greater name recognition, longer operating histories, more varied product offerings, and greater financial, technical, and other resources.

We believe that the key competitive factors in the retail tile industry include:

product assortment;

product presentation;

customer service;

store location;

availability of inventory; and

price.

We believe that we compete favorably with respect to each of these factors by providing a highly diverse selection of products to our customers, at an attractive value, in appealing and convenient store locations, with exceptional customer service and on-site instructional opportunities. Further, while some larger factory-direct competitors manufacture their own products, many of our competitors do not maintain their own inventory and instead purchase their tile from domestic manufacturers or distributors when they receive an order from a customer. We also believe that we offer a broader range of products and stronger in-store customer support than these competitors.

Human Capital

We believe that our employees are our strongest competitive advantage and the high-quality service that they provide sets us apart from others in our industry. As of December 31, 2021, we had 1,343 employees, 1,247 of whom were full-time and none who were represented by a union. This includes 989 employees who work in our stores, 111 who work in corporate, store support, infrastructure or similar functions, and 243 who work in our distribution and manufacturing facilities.

The Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”), through its Compensation Committee, provides oversight of human capital matters including the Company’s diversity and inclusion initiatives that promote equity across the organization. The Compensation Committee and Board periodically review the composition of our workforce and promote practices to hire from a diverse pool of candidates. The Compensation Committee and Board also review the Company’s compensation and benefits programs as well as management development and succession planning practices and strategies.

Our principal human capital objectives are to attract, develop and retain people who are committed to our goal of providing the best service in our industry. To support these objectives, our human resources programs seek to:

Reward our employees through highly competitive total compensation and benefit programs designed to reward exceptional performance, promote teamwork and support our employees’ total wellbeing.

Provide development opportunities to enhance sales skills, product knowledge, exposure to the latest design trends, safety, teamwork and leadership.

Enhance our culture through efforts aimed at making our workplace more diverse, engaging, equitable and inclusive.

We believe that building a strong and diverse workforce is a significant contributor to our success. Creating a culture that embraces diversity and inclusion is the key to a collaborative and winning team culture. To achieve this goal, we seek diverse talent internally and externally in an effort to achieve broader diverse representation throughout our organization. We also promote inclusion through our training and development programs.

Intellectual Property and Trademarks

We have registered and unregistered trademarks for all of our brands, including 25 registered trademarks. We regard our intellectual property as having significant value and our brands are an important factor in the marketing of our products. Accordingly, we have taken, and continue to take, appropriate steps to protect our intellectual property.

Government Regulation

We are subject to extensive and varied federal, state and local government regulation in the jurisdictions in which we operate, including laws and regulations relating to our relationships with our employees, public health and safety, zoning, and fire codes. We operate each of our stores, offices, and distribution and manufacturing facilities in accordance with standards and procedures designed to comply with applicable laws, codes, and regulations.

Our operations and properties are also subject to federal, state and local laws and regulations relating to the use, storage, handling, generation, transportation, treatment, emission, release, discharge and disposal of hazardous materials, substances, and wastes and relating to the investigation and cleanup of contaminated properties, including off-site disposal locations. We do not incur significant

costs complying with environmental laws and regulations. However, we could be subject to material costs, liabilities, or claims relating to environmental compliance in the future, especially in the event of changes in existing laws and regulations or in their interpretation.

Products that we import into the United States are subject to laws and regulations imposed in conjunction with such importation, including those issued and enforced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. We work closely with our suppliers to ensure compliance with the applicable laws and regulations in these areas.

Financial Information about Geographic Areas

A majority of our revenues and profits are generated within the United States and nearly all of our long-lived assets are located within the United States as well. We have also established a sourcing office based in China.

Available Information

We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). The Exchange Act requires us to file periodic reports, proxy statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. These materials may be obtained electronically by accessing the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

We maintain a website at www.tileshop.com, the contents of which are not part of or incorporated by reference into this Form 10-K or any other report or document we file with the SEC. Any reference to our website is intended to be an inactive textual reference only. We make our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports available on our website, free of charge, as soon as reasonably practicable after such reports have been filed with or furnished to the SEC. Our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, as well as any waivers from and amendments to the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, is also posted on our website.

We intend to use the investor relations section of our website, investors.tileshop.com, as a means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under SEC Regulation FD. Such disclosures will be included on our website under the heading News and Events. Accordingly, investors should monitor such portions of our website, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

The following are material factors known to us that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, or operating results, as well as adversely affect the value of an investment in our common stock. These risks could cause our actual results to differ materially from our historical experience and from results predicted by forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements made by us are qualified by the risks described below. Disclosures of risks should not be interpreted to imply that the risks have not already materialized, and there may be additional risks that are not presently material or known. You should carefully consider each of the following risks and all other information set forth in this report.

Risks Related to COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted, and we anticipate will continue to adversely affect, our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created significant volatility, uncertainty and economic disruption across the world. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governmental authorities have implemented numerous measures to try to contain the virus, some of which have been extended or reimplemented as a result of ongoing waves of COVID-19 cases, with additional challenges resulting from the emergence of new variants of COVID-19. Such measures have impacted, and may continue to affect, our workforce, operations, suppliers and customers. While we have suspended many of the remedial measures we took in the months following the onset of COVID-19, it may be necessary to implement remedial measures such as temporary store closures, reduced store hours, workforce reductions or other steps to conserve cash and curtail other selling general and administrative expenses. There is no certainty that the remedial measures we may take in the future, will be sufficient to mitigate the risks posed by COVID-19. Further, such measures could potentially materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and create additional risks for us.

Among other things, the pandemic has negatively impacted our workforce and supply chain. We have incurred additional costs as a result of COVID-19 infections at store locations and have, and may continue to, experience difficulties staffing our store locations, which may be exacerbated if we are required to implement vaccine mandates. We also have an increased number of employees

working remotely, which increases our exposure to potential cybersecurity threats. In addition, during 2021, we experienced elevated levels of product shortages, which were partially due to vendor production delays and global shipping capacity constraints resulting, in part, from the impact of COVID-19. We continue to actively work with our vendors to secure delivery of backordered product.

The ultimate magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic and the full extent of the material negative impact on our financial and operational results cannot be predicted and will depend on future developments, including the duration, scope and severity of the pandemic and the related length of its impact on the global economy and our customers; the extent of any additional resurgences in cases across the United States, including breakthrough infections among the fully vaccinated population; the timing, acceptance, availability and effectiveness of medical treatments and vaccines; the emergence of new strains of COVID-19; labor shortages; and ongoing supply chain disruptions and shortages of certain supplies and the resulting cost inflation. The resumption of our normal business operations may be constrained by lingering effects of COVID-19 on our customers, suppliers and/or third-party service providers, and any inability to meet customers’ needs due to the impacts of COVID-19 could negatively impact our business and reputation. Any recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic impact may also be slowed or reversed by a variety of factors, such as any additional waves of COVID-19 infections and breakthrough infections.

Risks Related to Our Growth Strategy

Our ability to grow and remain profitable may be limited by direct or indirect competition in the highly-competitive retail tile industry.

The retail tile industry in the United States is highly competitive. Participants in the tile industry compete primarily based on product variety, customer service, store location, and price. There can be no assurance that we will be able to continue to compete favorably with our competitors in these areas. Our store competitors include large national home centers, regional and local specialty retailers of tile, factory-direct stores, privately-owned, single-site stores and online-only competitors. We also compete indirectly with companies that sell other types of floor coverings, including wood floors, carpet, and vinyl sheet. In the past, we have faced periods of heightened competition that materially affected our results of operations. Certain of our competitors have greater name recognition, longer operating histories, more varied product offerings, and substantially greater financial and other resources than us. Accordingly, we may face periods of intense competition in the future that could have a material adverse effect on our planned growth and future results of operations. Moreover, the barriers to entry into the retail tile industry are relatively low. New or existing retailers could enter our markets and increase the competition that we face. In addition, manufacturers and suppliers of tile and related products, including those whose products we currently sell, could enter the United States retail tile market and start directly competing with us. Further, the retail industry in general is subject to rapid technological change, which may increase the amount of capital we spend in the future as we work to sustain and grow our technological infrastructure and digital commerce capabilities in order to remain competitive. Competition in existing and new markets may also prevent or delay our ability to gain relative market share. Any of the developments described above could have a material adverse effect on our planned growth and future results of operations.

Any failure by us to successfully anticipate consumer trends may lead to loss of consumer acceptance of our products, resulting in reduced revenues.

Our success depends on our ability to anticipate and respond to changing trends in the tile industry and consumer demands in a timely manner. If we fail to identify and respond to emerging trends, consumer acceptance of our merchandise and our image with current or potential customers may be harmed, which could reduce our revenue potential. Additionally, if we misjudge market trends, we may significantly overstock unpopular products and be forced to reduce the sales price of such products, which would have a negative impact on our gross profit and cash flow. Conversely, shortages of products that prove popular, or increases in our pricing as a result of general product shortages, supply chain disruptions and inflationary cost pressure, could cause customers to seek alternative sources of such products, as well as other products they may have purchased from us, which could also reduce our revenues.

If we are unable to effectively manage our online sales, our reputation and operating results may be harmed.

Consumers are increasingly embracing shopping online and through mobile commerce applications. Any failure on our part to provide an attractive, reliable and user-friendly digital platform that offers a wide assortment of merchandise and meets the changing expectations of online shoppers could place us at a competitive disadvantage, result in the loss of e-commerce and other sales, harm our reputation with consumers, and have a material adverse impact on the growth of our e-commerce business and on our business and results of operations. We are vulnerable to certain risks and uncertainties associated with our e-commerce operations, including changes in required technology interfaces, website downtime and other technical failures, costs and technical issues for upgrades of our website software, computer viruses, changes in applicable federal and state regulations, security breaches and consumer privacy concerns. If not managed, these risks could adversely impact our operating results.

If we fail to successfully manage the challenges that our planned growth poses or encounter unexpected difficulties during our expansion, our revenues and profitability could be materially adversely affected.

One of our long-term objectives is to increase revenue and profitability through market share gains. Our ability to achieve market share growth, however, is contingent upon our ability to open new stores and achieve operating results in new stores at the same level as our similarly situated current stores. There can be no assurance that we will be able to open stores in new markets at the rate required to achieve market leadership in such markets, identify and obtain favorable store sites, arrange favorable leases for stores, obtain governmental and other third-party consents, permits, and licenses needed to open or operate stores in a timely manner, train and hire a sufficient number of qualified managers for new stores, attract a strong customer base and brand familiarity in new markets, or successfully compete with established retail tile stores in the new markets that we enter. Failure to open new stores in an effective and cost-efficient manner could place us at a competitive disadvantage as compared to retailers who are more adept than us at managing these challenges, which, in turn, could negatively affect our overall operating results.

We intend to open additional stores in both our existing markets and new markets, which poses both the possibility of diminishing sales by existing stores in our existing markets and the risk of a slow ramp-up period for stores in new markets.

In future periods, we intend to continue opening stores in new and existing markets. Because our stores typically draw customers from their local areas, additional stores may draw customers away from nearby existing stores and may cause comparable store sales performance at those existing stores to decline, which may adversely affect our overall operating results. Additionally, stores in new markets typically have a ramp-up period before sales become steady enough for such stores to be profitable. Our ability to open additional stores will be dependent on our ability to promote and/or recruit enough qualified store managers, assistant store managers, and sales associates. The time and effort required to train and supervise a large number of new managers and associates and integrate them into our culture may divert resources from our existing stores. If we are unable to profitably open additional stores in both new and existing markets and limit the adverse impact of those new stores on existing stores, our comparable store sales and overall operating results may be reduced during the implementation of our expansion strategy.

Any future expansion will be dependent upon, and limited by, the availability of adequate capital.

Our expansion strategy will require adequate capital for, among other purposes, opening new stores, distribution centers, and manufacturing facilities, as well as entering new markets. Such expenditures will include researching real estate and consumer markets, leases, inventory, property and equipment costs, integration of new stores and markets into company-wide systems and programs, and other costs associated with new stores and market entry expenses and growth. If cash generated internally is insufficient to fund capital requirements, we will require additional debt or equity financing. Adequate financing may not be available or, if available, may not be available on terms satisfactory to us. In addition, our credit facility may limit the amount of capital expenditures that we may make annually, depending on our rent adjusted leverage ratio. If we fail to obtain sufficient additional capital in the future or we are unable to make capital expenditures under our credit facility, we could be forced to curtail our expansion strategies by reducing or delaying capital expenditures relating to new stores and new market entry. As a result, there can be no assurance that we will be able to fund our current plans for the opening of new stores or entry into new markets.

Our success depends on the effectiveness of our marketing strategy.

We believe that our growth was achieved in part through the effectiveness of our marketing strategies. Prior to 2018, we used internet, print, and radio advertisements containing discounts and promotional offers to encourage customers to visit our stores. A significant portion of our advertising was invested to support the opening of new stores and directed at professional customers. Beginning in late 2017, we de-emphasized the use of discount offers to attract customers. Limited use of discount and promotional offers in future periods could fail to attract customers, resulting in a decrease in store traffic. We may need to further increase our marketing expense to support our business strategies in the future. If our marketing strategies fail to draw customers in the future, or if the cost of advertising or other marketing materials increases significantly, we could experience declines in our net sales and operating results.

In addition, there has been a substantial increase in the use of social media platforms. Negative commentary regarding us or the products we sell may be posted on social media platforms or other electronic means at any time and may be adverse to our reputation or business. Customers value readily available information and often act on such information without further investigation and without regard to its accuracy. Any harm to us or the products we sell may be immediate without allowing us an opportunity for redress or correction. We also use social media platforms as marketing tools, and our marketing efforts through social media platforms may not be successful, and the availability of these platforms may make it easier for smaller competitors to compete with us.

Risks Related to our Business, Operations and Financial Condition

Our comparable store sales fluctuate due to a variety of economic, operating, industry and environmental factors and may not be a fair indicator of our overall performance.

Our comparable store sales have experienced fluctuations, which can be expected to continue. Numerous factors affect our comparable store sales results, including, among others, the timing of new and relocated store openings, the relative proportion of new and relocated stores to mature stores, cannibalization resulting from the opening of new stores in existing markets, changes in advertising and other operating costs, the timing and level of markdowns, changes in our product mix, weather conditions, which may be exacerbated by the effects of climate change, retail trends, the retail sales environment, economic and geopolitical conditions, inflation, the impact of competition, and our ability to execute our business strategy, as well as the impact of COVID-19, including resurgences in infections throughout the United States, and governmental measures implemented to try to contain the pandemic. As a result, comparable store sales or operating results may fluctuate and may cause the price of our securities to fluctuate significantly. Therefore, we believe that period-to-period comparisons of our comparable store sales may not be a reliable indicator of our future overall operating performance.

If customers are unable to obtain third-party financing at satisfactory rates, sales of our products could be materially adversely affected.

Our business, financial condition, and results of operations have been, and may continue to be, affected by various economic factors. In certain markets, deterioration in the economic environment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to reduced consumer and business spending, including by our customers, and continued deterioration, whether due to the COVID-19 pandemic or other factors, may lead to further reduced consumer and business spending. It may also cause customers to shift their spending to products that we either do not sell or that generate lower profitability for us. Further, reduced access to credit may adversely affect the ability of consumers to purchase our products. This potential reduction in access to credit may adversely impact our ability to offer customers credit card financing through third-party credit providers on terms similar to those offered currently, or at all. In addition, economic conditions, including decreases in access to credit and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, have resulted, and may continue to result, in financial difficulties, leading to restructuring, bankruptcies, liquidations and other unfavorable events for our customers, which may adversely impact our industry, business, and results of operations.

The burden of incurring debt under our existing credit facility could adversely affect us and make us more vulnerable to adverse economic or industry conditions. 

We entered into a credit facility with Bank of America, N.A., Fifth Third Bank and Citizens Bank on September 18, 2018, which was amended November 16, 2021. As of December 31, 2021, we had $5.0 million outstanding on our revolving line of credit, leaving $92.6 million available for future borrowings. The terms of our credit facility could have serious consequences for us, including limiting our ability to obtain additional financing to fund our working capital, capital expenditures, debt service requirements, expansion strategy, or other needs and increasing our vulnerability to, and reducing our flexibility in planning for, adverse changes in economic, industry, and competitive conditions, such as the potential impact of COVID-19 on our ability to comply with the financial covenants under the credit facility. Our credit facility also contains negative covenants that limit our ability to engage in specified types of transactions, including, among other things, our ability to incur indebtedness, create liens, engage in mergers or consolidations, sell assets (including pursuant to sale and leaseback transactions), make investments, acquisitions, loans, or advances, engage in certain transactions with affiliates, amend our organizational documents and change our lines of business. A breach of any of these covenants could result in an event of default under our credit facility, which would allow the lender to declare all amounts outstanding to be immediately due and payable and terminate all commitments to extend further credit or seek amendments to our debt agreements that would provide for terms more favorable to our lenders, which we may have to accept under the circumstances. If we are unable to repay any amounts due, our lenders under our credit facility could proceed against the collateral granted to it to secure that indebtedness.

Any future increase in the level of our indebtedness will likely increase our interest expense, which could negatively impact our profitability, and we are vulnerable to changes in variable interest rates. Current interest rates on borrowings under our credit facility are variable and include the use of the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”). LIBOR is in the process of being phased out and may be replaced by other benchmark rates; at this time, the future of LIBOR remains uncertain, and any changes in the methods by which LIBOR is determined or regulatory activity related to LIBOR’s phase out could cause LIBOR to perform differently than in the past or cease to exist. The phase out of LIBOR could cause market volatility or disruption and may adversely affect our access to the capital markets and cost of funding. Furthermore, while our credit facility contains “fallback” provisions providing for alternative rate

calculations in the event LIBOR is unavailable, these “fallback” provisions may not adequately address the actual changes to LIBOR or successor rates.

If we are unable to renew or replace current store leases, or if we are unable to enter into leases for additional stores on favorable terms, or if one or more of our current leases is terminated prior to expiration of its stated term and we cannot find suitable alternate store locations, our growth and profitability could be negatively impacted.

We currently lease all of our store locations and certain distribution center locations. Many of our current leases provide us with the unilateral option to renew for several additional rental periods at specific rental rates. Our ability to renegotiate favorable terms on an expiring lease or to negotiate favorable terms for a suitable alternate location, and our ability to negotiate favorable lease terms for additional store locations, could depend on conditions in the real estate market, including the impact of COVID-19, competition for desirable properties, our relationships with current and prospective landlords, or other factors that are not within our control. Any or all of these factors and conditions could negatively impact our growth and profitability.

Our results may be adversely affected by fluctuations in material and energy costs.

Our results may be affected by the prices of the materials used in the manufacture of tile, setting and maintenance materials, and related accessories that we sell. These prices may fluctuate based on a number of factors beyond our control, including: oil prices, changes in supply and demand, general economic conditions, supply chain disruptions, labor costs, including those resulting from labor shortages, competition, import duties, tariffs, currency exchange rates, inflation, geopolitical conditions such as the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the resulting sanctions imposed by the U.S. and other countries, and government regulation. For instance, many of our vendors have begun to communicate price increases in response to inflationary cost pressure, which, combined with escalated international shipping rates, is resulting in an increase in the cost of our inventory and corresponding pressure on our gross margin rates. While we seek to manage price and availability risks related to supplies through procurement strategies, these efforts may not be successful, and we may experience adverse impacts due to rising prices of such products. In addition, energy costs have fluctuated dramatically in the past and may fluctuate in the future. These fluctuations may result in an increase in our transportation costs for distribution from the manufacturer to our distribution centers and from our regional distribution centers to our stores, utility costs for our distribution and manufacturing centers and stores, and overall costs to purchase products from our suppliers.

While we have adjusted, and plan to continue to adjust, our pricing as a result of the current cost pressures described above, we may not be able to adjust the prices of our products, especially in the short-term, to recover any cost increases in materials and energy. A continual rise in material and energy costs could also adversely affect consumer spending and demand for our products and increase our operating costs, both of which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Natural disasters, changes in climate and geopolitical events could adversely affect our operating results.

The threat or occurrence of one or more natural disasters or other extreme weather events, the nature, frequency and severity of which may be negatively impacted by climate change, and the threat or outbreak of terrorism, civil unrest, political instability, such as the Russia-Ukraine crisis, a public health epidemic or pandemic, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, or other hostilities, conflicts or similar adverse events could materially adversely affect our financial performance. These events may disrupt supply chains, resulting in increased costs and shipping delays, increase costs of energy and raw materials, result in damage to, or destruction or closure of, our stores, distribution centers and other properties or those of our suppliers, customers and other business partners, as well as injuries or loss of life. Such events can also adversely affect our work force and prevent employees and customers from reaching our stores and other properties, can modify consumer purchasing patterns and decrease disposable income, and can disrupt or disable portions of our supply chain and distribution network. Although preventative measures may help to mitigate damage, we cannot provide any assurance that any measures we may take will be successful, and delays in recovery may be significant.

We are a holding company with no business operations of our own and depend on cash flow from The Tile Shop to meet our obligations.

We are a holding company with no business operations of our own or material assets other than the equity of our subsidiaries. All of our operations are conducted by our subsidiaries, including The Tile Shop. As a holding company, we will require dividends and other payments from our subsidiaries to meet cash requirements. The terms of any future credit facility may restrict our subsidiaries from paying dividends and otherwise transferring cash or other assets to us, although our current facility does not restrict this action. If there is an insolvency, liquidation, or other reorganization of any of our subsidiaries, our stockholders likely will have no right to proceed against their assets. Creditors of those subsidiaries will be entitled to payment in full from the sale or other disposal of the assets of those subsidiaries before we, as an equity holder, would be entitled to receive any distribution from that sale or disposal. If The Tile Shop is unable to pay dividends or make other payments to us when needed, we will be unable to satisfy our obligations.

Our failure or inability to protect our intellectual property rights could diminish the value of our brand and weaken our competitive position.

We attempt to protect our intellectual property rights through a combination of copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, trade dress and unfair competition laws, as well as confidentiality procedures, and assignment and licensing arrangements. Our failure to obtain or maintain adequate protection of our intellectual property rights for any reason could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition, and might prevent our brands from achieving or maintaining market acceptance. Further, we cannot assure you that competitors or other third parties will not infringe upon our intellectual property rights, or that we will have adequate resources to enforce our intellectual property rights.

Climate change may adversely impact our business.

Rising global average temperatures due to increased concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are causing significant changes in weather patterns around the globe and an increase in the frequency and severity of natural disasters. Changes in weather patterns and the increased frequency, intensity and duration of extreme weather events (such as floods, droughts, wildfires and severe storms) could, among other things, adversely impact the ability to extract natural stones from quarries, which is a key resource for a number of our products, disrupt the operation of our supply chain and the productivity of manufacturers on which we rely, disrupt retail operations and foot traffic in consumer markets, damage or destroy our stores, and increase our product costs.

The increasing focus by stakeholders on environmental, social and governance policies and practices could result in additional costs, and could adversely impact our reputation, consumer perception, employee retention, and willingness of third parties to do business with us.

There has been increased focus from our stakeholders, including investors, consumers and employees, on our environmental, social, or governance (“ESG”) policies and practices, including corporate citizenship and sustainability. Additionally, public interest and legislative pressure related to public companies’ ESG practices continues to grow. If our ESG policies and practices fail to meet regulatory requirements or stakeholders’ evolving expectations and standards for responsible corporate citizenship in areas including environmental stewardship, support for local communities, Board and employee diversity, human capital management, employee health and safety practices, corporate governance and transparency and employing ESG strategies in our operations, our brand, reputation and employee retention may be negatively impacted, and customers and suppliers may be unwilling to do business with us.

We could also incur additional costs and require additional resources to monitor, report and comply with various ESG practices, as well as any initiatives or goals we may establish or announce, including those related to climate change. If we do establish such initiatives or goals, there can be no assurance that our stakeholders will agree with our strategy or that we will be successful in achieving such initiatives or goals, and we will remain subject to climate change risks regardless. As a result, the effects of climate change and increased focus by stakeholders on ESG matters could have short- and long-term impacts on our business and operations. Inconsistency of legislation and regulations among jurisdictions and expected additional regulations may also affect the costs of compliance with such laws and regulations. Any assessment of the potential impact of future climate change legislation, regulations or industry standards, as well as any international treaties and accords, is uncertain given the wide scope of potential regulatory change where we operate.

If we fail to adopt ESG standards or practices as quickly as stakeholders desire, fail, or are perceived to fail, in our achievement of any initiatives or goals, or fail in fully and accurately reporting our progress on any such initiatives and goals, our reputation, business, financial performance and growth may be adversely impacted. Any such matters, or related corporate citizenship and sustainability matters, could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Risks Related to Our Labor and Supply Chain

If we fail to identify and maintain relationships with a sufficient number of suppliers, our ability to obtain products that meet our high quality standards at attractive prices could be adversely affected.

We purchase flooring and other products directly from suppliers located around the world. However, we do not have long-term contractual supply agreements with our suppliers that obligate them to supply us with products exclusively or at specified quantities or prices. As a result, our current suppliers may decide to sell products to our competitors and may not continue selling products to us. In order to retain the competitive advantage that we believe results from these relationships, we need to continue to identify, develop and maintain relationships with qualified suppliers that can satisfy our high standards for quality and our requirements for flooring and other products in a timely and efficient manner at attractive prices. The need to develop new relationships will be particularly important as we seek to expand our operations and enhance our product offerings in the future. The loss of one or more of our existing suppliers or our inability to develop relationships with new suppliers could reduce our competitiveness, slow our plans for further expansion, and cause our net sales and operating results to be adversely affected. In addition, any failure to manage our inventory effectively could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Our sales could be

adversely affected when we experience shortages of key items; further, any inability to meet our customers’ product needs could also adversely affect sales of other related products.

We source the products that we stock and sell from approximately 170 domestic and international suppliers. We source a large number of those products from foreign manufacturers, including 50% of our products from a group of ten suppliers located in Asia, Europe and the United States. Our largest supplier accounted for approximately 13% of our total purchases in 2021. We generally take title to these products sourced from foreign suppliers overseas and are responsible for arranging shipment to our distribution centers.

During both 2020 and 2021, we experienced an elevated level of product outages, which were partially due to vendor production delays and global shipping capacity constraints resulting, in part, from the impact of COVID-19. We continue to actively work with our vendors to secure delivery of backordered product. Additionally, many of our vendors have begun to communicate price increases in response to inflationary cost pressure, which, combined with escalated international shipping rates, is resulting in an increase in the cost of our inventory and corresponding pressure on our gross margin rates. Geopolitical conditions, such as the current Russia-Ukraine crisis, may lead to additional price increases and shipping delays. In response to this cost pressure, we have adjusted, and plan to continue to adjust, our pricing; however, we cannot provide any assurance that our attempts to mitigate the impact of price increase imposed by our vendors will be successful, or that customers will continue to purchase our products at adjusted prices.

Other factors that may impact our suppliers, including financial instability among key suppliers, political instability, the impact of pandemics or other catastrophic events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, trade restrictions, tariffs, currency exchange rates, inflation and transport capacity and costs, are beyond our control and could negatively impact our business if they seriously disrupt the movement of products through our supply chain or increase the costs of our products.

Our reliance on foreign suppliers increases our risk of not obtaining adequate, timely and cost-effective products and other risks involved in foreign operations, including foreign currency translation.

The risks associated with direct sourcing from overseas manufacturers may be higher than the risks associated with our traditional domestic suppliers. Foreign sourcing subjects us to a number of risks, including long lead times; work stoppages; shipping delays and interruptions; product quality issues; employee rights issues; other social concerns; public health crises, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has disrupted our global supply chain and resulted in additional expenses and delays outside of our control, and may continue to do so for an extended period of time; political instability; acts of terrorism; economic disruptions; the imposition of tariffs, including those imposed by the United States on goods imported from China, duties, quotas, import and export controls and other trade restrictions, as well as the possibility of a global trade war; changes in governmental policies, including potential adverse changes in tax laws and regulations; uncertainty surrounding the enforcement of laws (if any) relating to the protection of intellectual property or data security; and other events. Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on us.

Reductions in the value of the U.S. dollar or revaluation of foreign currencies used could ultimately increase the prices that we pay for our products. Furthermore, volatile market conditions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic may result in significant fluctuations in exchange rates.

In addition, all of our products manufactured overseas and imported into the U.S. are subject to duties collected by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. We may be subjected to additional duties, significant monetary penalties, the seizure and forfeiture of the products we are attempting to import or the loss of import privileges if we or our suppliers are found to be in violation of U.S. laws and regulations applicable to the importation of our products. If duties were to be significantly increased, it could have a material adverse impact on us.

Our ability to offer compelling products, particularly products made of unique stone, depends on the continued availability of sufficient suitable natural products.

Our business strategy depends on offering a wide assortment of compelling products to our customers. We sell, among other things, products made from various natural stones from quarries throughout the world. Our ability to obtain an adequate volume and quality of hard-to-find products depends on our suppliers’ ability to furnish those products, which, in turn, could be affected by many things, including the exhaustion of stone quarries or the impact of natural disasters or other extreme weather events, which may be impacted by climate change, on the ability to access or efficiently extract resources from such quarries. If our suppliers cannot deliver sufficient products, and we cannot find replacement suppliers, our net sales and operating results may be adversely affected.

Our success is highly dependent on our ability to provide timely delivery to our customers, and any disruption in our delivery capabilities or our related planning and control processes may adversely affect our operating results.

Our success is due in part to our ability to deliver products quickly to our customers, which requires successful planning and distribution infrastructure, including ordering, transportation and receipt processing, and the ability of suppliers to meet distribution requirements. Our ability to maintain this success depends on the continued identification and implementation of improvements to our

planning processes, distribution infrastructure, and supply chain. We also need to ensure that our distribution infrastructure and supply chain keep pace with our anticipated growth and increased number of stores. The cost of these enhanced processes could be significant, and any failure to maintain, grow, or improve them could adversely affect our operating results. Our business could also be adversely affected if there are delays in product shipments due to freight difficulties, strikes, or other difficulties at our suppliers’ principal transport providers, or otherwise. For instance, during both 2021 and 2020, the impact of the supply chain disruptions, including those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and labor shortages negatively affected our ability to obtain certain products in a timely manner and may continue to cause delays going forward.

We depend on a few key employees, and if we lose the services of these employees, we may not be able to run our business effectively.

Our future success depends in part on our ability to attract and retain key executive, merchandising, marketing, and sales personnel who share our values and are able to operate effectively consistent with our culture. We have had changes in our senior management team over the past three years and have promoted or hired new employees to fill certain roles. Our inability to effectively integrate the newly-hired senior managers into our business processes, controls, systems and culture could have a material adverse effect on us. If any of our key employees ceases to be employed by us, we would need to hire additional qualified personnel and could experience delays in filling those roles. Our ability to successfully hire other experienced and qualified key employees cannot be assured and may be difficult because we face competition for these professionals from our competitors, our suppliers and other companies operating in our industry, particularly for employees who can work remotely, as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has increased remote opportunities. As a result, the loss or unavailability of any of our key employees could have a material adverse effect on us. In addition, ineffective succession planning could result in unexpected costs, reduced productivity and/or difficulties with respect to internal processes and controls.

If we fail to hire, train, and retain qualified store managers, sales associates, and other employees, our enhanced customer service could be compromised and we could lose sales to our competitors.

A key element of our competitive strategy is to provide product expertise to our customers through our extensively trained, commissioned sales associates. We may be constrained in hiring and retaining sufficient qualified employees to support our strategy due to general labor shortages in our industry, including potential employee attrition in connection with any COVID-19 vaccine or testing mandates that may be implemented. In addition, a lack of qualified personnel or increased turnover rates within our employee base could lead to increased costs, such as increased overtime to meet demand and increased wage rates to attract and retain qualified employees. If we are unable to attract and retain qualified personnel and managers as needed in the future, including qualified sales personnel, our level of customer service may decline, which may decrease our revenues and profitability.

Our ability to control labor costs is limited, which may negatively affect our business.

Our ability to control labor costs is subject to numerous external factors, including prevailing wage rates, the impact of legislation or regulations governing healthcare benefits or labor relations, and health and other insurance costs. If our labor and/or benefit costs increase, we may not be able to hire or maintain qualified personnel to the extent necessary to execute our competitive strategy, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

Our insurance coverage and self-insurance reserves may not cover future claims.

We maintain various insurance policies for employee health and workers’ compensation. We are self-insured on certain health insurance plans and are responsible for losses up to a certain limit for these respective plans. We are also self-insured with regard to workers’ compensation coverage, in which case we are responsible for losses up to certain retention limits on both a per-claim and aggregate basis.

For policies under which we are responsible for losses, we record a liability that represents our estimated cost of claims incurred and unpaid as of the balance sheet date. Our estimated liability is not discounted and is based on a number of assumptions and factors, including historical trends and economic conditions, and is closely monitored and adjusted when warranted by changing circumstances. Fluctuating healthcare costs, our significant growth rate and changes from our past experience with workers’ compensation claims could affect the accuracy of estimates based on historical experience. Should a greater amount of claims occur compared to what was estimated or employee health insurance costs increase beyond what was expected, our accrued liabilities might not be sufficient, and we may be required to record additional expense. Unanticipated changes may produce materially different amounts of expense than that reported under these programs, which could adversely impact our operating results.

While we have implemented personal safety measures at all of our facilities where our employees are working onsite, any actions we take may not be sufficient to mitigate the risk of infection and could result in COVID-19-related claims. Changes to state workers’ compensation laws may increase our potential liability for such claims.

We also maintain third-party insurance coverage against various other liability risks and risks of property loss, including directors’ and officers’ liability insurance coverage. Potential liabilities associated with those risks or other events could exceed the coverage provided by such arrangements, resulting in significant uninsured liabilities, which could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, claims brought against us have resulted in, and additional claims could further result in, increased directors’ and officers’ insurance premiums and a reduction in coverage, which could negatively affect us, including by increasing our insurance costs and impacting our ability to attract and retain qualified officers and directors.

Legal and Regulatory Risks

Compliance with laws or changes in existing or new laws and regulations or regulatory enforcement priorities could adversely affect our business.

We must comply with various laws and regulations at the local, regional, state, federal, and international levels. These laws and regulations change frequently, and such changes can impose significant costs and other burdens of compliance on our business and suppliers. Any changes in regulations, the imposition of additional regulations, or the enactment of any new legislation that affects employment/labor, trade, product safety, transportation/logistics, energy costs, health care, tax, environmental issues, including the impact of climate change, or compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act could have an adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations. The evolving and at times overlapping regulatory regimes to which the Company is subject may change at any time, including as a result of changes in the U.S. political environment; for instance, various levels of government are increasingly focused on tax reform and other legislative actions to increase tax revenue, and the reduction in the corporate income tax rate resulting from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted into U.S. law in December 2017 could be reduced or rescinded by future tax law changes. In addition, changes in enforcement priorities by governmental agencies charged with enforcing existing laws and regulations could increase our cost of doing business. In addition, a number of legal and regulatory measures and social initiatives have been introduced in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas and other carbon emissions. Any such initiatives, restrictions and requirements could restrict, or require us to make changes to, our operating activities, which could increase our operating costs, require us to make capital improvements to our properties, increase our energy, supply and transportation costs or limit their availability, or otherwise adversely affect our results of operations, liquidity or capital resources, and these effects could be material to us.

We may also be subject to audits by various taxing authorities. Changes in tax laws in any of the multiple jurisdictions in which we operate, or adverse outcomes from tax audits that we may be subject to in any of the jurisdictions in which we operate, could result in an unfavorable change in our effective tax rate, which could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

If our suppliers do not use ethical business practices or comply with applicable laws and regulations, our reputation could be harmed due to negative publicity and we could be subject to legal risk.

We do not control the operations of our suppliers. Accordingly, we cannot guarantee that our suppliers will comply with applicable environmental, labor and other laws and regulations or operate in a legal, ethical, and responsible manner. Violation of environmental, labor or other laws by our suppliers or their failure to operate in a legal, ethical, or responsible manner could reduce demand for our products if, as a result of such violation or failure, we attract negative publicity. Further, such conduct could expose us to legal risks as a result of the purchase of products from non-compliant suppliers.

Taxing authorities may successfully assert that we should have collected or in the future should collect sales and use, value added or similar transactional taxes, and we could be subject to liability with respect to past or future sales, which could adversely affect our results of operations.

The application of sales tax and other indirect taxes on cross border sales by remote sellers is continuing to change and evolve. In June 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court decided South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., a case challenging the prior law under which sellers were not required to collect sales and use tax unless they have a physical presence in the buyer’s state. This decision allowed states to adopt new or enforce existing laws requiring sellers to collect and remit sales and use tax, even in states in which the seller has no presence. The adoption or enforcement of any such legislation could result in additional sales and use tax collection responsibility for certain of our businesses. A number of states have already begun, or have positioned themselves to begin, requiring sales and use tax collection by remote sellers, and the details and effective dates of these collection requirements vary from state to state. While we now collect, remit, and report sales tax in all states that impose a sales tax, it is possible that one or more jurisdictions may assert that we have liability for periods for which certain of our businesses did not collect sales, use or other similar taxes, and if such an assertion or assertions were successful, it could result in tax liabilities, including for past sales taxes and penalties and interest, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.

We may become involved in legal proceedings and, while we cannot predict the outcomes of such proceedings and other contingencies with certainty, some of these outcomes could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have in the past, and may in the future, become involved in stockholder, consumer, employment, tort or other litigation, which may include claims and proceedings arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic. We cannot predict with certainty the outcomes of these legal proceedings. The outcome of some of these legal proceedings could require us to take, or refrain from taking, actions which could negatively affect our operations or could require us to pay substantial amounts of money, adversely affecting our financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, defending against lawsuits and proceedings may involve significant expense and diversion of management’s attention and resources.

Technology-Related Risks

Our business operations could be disrupted if we are unable to protect the integrity and security of our customer information.

In connection with payment card sales and other transactions, including bank cards, debit cards, credit cards and other merchant cards, we process and transmit confidential banking and payment card information. Additionally, as part of our normal business activities, we collect and store sensitive personal information related to our employees, customers, suppliers and other parties. Despite our security measures, our information technology and infrastructure, and that of third parties upon which we rely, may be vulnerable to criminal cyber-attacks or security incidents due to employee or service provider error, third-party action, including actions of foreign actors, which risk may be exacerbated by the current Russia-Ukraine crisis and U.S. and international response, insider attacks, phishing or denial-of-service attacks, ransomware or other malware, social engineering, malfeasance, other unauthorized physical or electronic access, or other vulnerabilities. Any such incidents could compromise our networks, or those of our vendors, or disrupt our or our vendors’ critical systems, and the information stored there, such as personal identification information or funds, could be accessed, publicly disclosed, lost, corrupted or stolen. Third parties may have the technology and know-how to breach the security of this information, and our security measures and those of our banks, merchant card processing and other technology suppliers may not effectively prohibit others from obtaining improper access to this information. The techniques used by criminals to obtain unauthorized access to sensitive data change frequently and often are not recognized until launched against a target; accordingly, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. Additionally, we face increased information technology security and fraud risks as a result of our increased reliance on working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which may create additional information security vulnerabilities and/or magnify the impact of any disruption in information technology systems.

We also incur costs in order to comply with cybersecurity or data privacy regulations or with requirements imposed by business partners; for instance, many states have enacted laws requiring companies to notify individuals of data security breaches involving their personal data. These mandatory disclosures regarding a security breach often lead to widespread negative publicity, which may cause our customers to lose confidence in the effectiveness of our data security measures. Any security breach, whether successful or not, would harm our reputation and could damage our competitive position and cause the loss of customers. In addition, any such breach could subject us to litigation, government enforcement actions, regulatory penalties or costly response measures, and we may not have adequate insurance coverage to compensate us for any losses relating to such events. Any such occurrence could have a material adverse effect on us.

If our management information systems experience disruptions, it could disrupt our business and reduce our net sales.

We depend on our management information systems to integrate the activities of our stores, to process orders, to manage inventory, to purchase merchandise and to sell and ship goods on a timely basis. We may experience operational problems with our information systems, as well as loss of funds, intellectual property or other proprietary information, as a result of system failures, viruses, computer “hackers” or other causes. We may incur significant expenses in order to repair any such operational problems and could suffer reputational damage. Any significant disruption or slowdown of our systems could cause information, including data related to customer orders, to be lost or delayed, which could result in delays in the delivery of products to our stores and customers or lost sales. Accordingly, if our network is disrupted, we may experience delayed communications within our operations and between our customers and ourselves. Any such occurrence could have a material adverse effect on us.

The selection and implementation of information technology initiatives may impact our operational efficiency and productivity.

In order to better manage our business, we expect to invest in our information systems. In doing so, we must select the correct investments and implement them in an efficient manner. The costs, potential problems and interruptions associated with implementing technology initiatives could disrupt or reduce the efficiency of our operations. For instance, we may experience occasional system interruptions and delays, as a result of routine maintenance, periodic updates, implementation of new technology or other factors, that make our information systems unavailable or slow to respond, including the interaction of our information systems with those of third parties. Furthermore, these initiatives might not provide the anticipated benefits or provide them in a delayed or unexpectedly costly

manner. Accordingly, issues relating to our selection and implementation of information technology initiatives may negatively impact our business and operating results.

Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock

We may be unable to maintain our listing on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) and may incur additional costs as a result of our Nasdaq listing.

Our common stock re-commenced trading on the Nasdaq in June 2021. We cannot provide any assurance that we will be able to continue to satisfy Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements and standards to which we are subject. A delisting of our common stock could negatively affect the price and liquidity of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital in the future. In addition, we incur, and may incur additional, costs as a result of compliance with Nasdaq’s rules and requirements.

The market price of our securities may decline and/or be volatile.

The market price of our common stock has fluctuated significantly in the past and may continue to fluctuate in the future. Future fluctuations could be based on various factors in addition to those otherwise described in this report, including:

our operating performance and the performance of our competitors;

the public’s reaction to our filings with the SEC, our press releases and other public announcements;

the degree of trading liquidity in our common stock, including our ability to remain listed on Nasdaq;

changes in recommendations or earnings estimates by research analysts who follow us or other companies in our industry;

variations in general economic conditions, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic;

actions of our current stockholders, including purchases or sales of common stock by our directors and executive officers;

the arrival or departure of key personnel; and

other developments affecting us, our industry or our competitors.

In addition, the stock market may experience significant price and volume fluctuations. These fluctuations may be unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies but may cause declines in the market price of our common stock. The price of our common stock could fluctuate based upon factors that have little or nothing to do with our company or its performance.

We suspended our quarterly dividend program and cancelled our stock repurchase program; as such, appreciation in the price of our common stock may be the only method to realize a return on your investment.

In October 2019, we suspended our quarterly cash dividend program and cancelled our stock repurchase program to focus on debt reduction and continued investment in strategic initiatives; since then, we have paid a special cash dividend of $0.65 per share in November 2021, but have not resumed our quarterly cash dividend or repurchase programs. Any future determination with respect to the payment of dividends or stock repurchases is at the discretion of our Board of Directors (the “Board of Directors” or the “Board”) and is dependent upon our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, general business conditions, tax treatment of dividends in the United States, potential future contractual restrictions contained in credit agreements and other agreements and other factors deemed relevant by our Board of Directors. We can provide no assurance that we will pay any dividends to our stockholders in the future, or as to the amount of any such dividends, or that we will engage in stock repurchases. Our election not to pay a quarterly dividend or repurchase stock may negatively impact our reputation, our stock price, and investor confidence in us.

Concentration of ownership may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control.

Our directors and executive officers, together with their affiliates, beneficially hold approximately 30% of our outstanding shares of common stock. As a result, these stockholders, if acting together, have the ability to influence the outcome of corporate actions requiring stockholder approval. This concentration of ownership may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control and might adversely affect the market price of our securities.

Anti-takeover provisions contained in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws and provisions of Delaware law could impair a takeover attempt.

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions that, alone or together, could have the effect of delaying or preventing hostile takeovers or changes in control or changes in our management without the consent of our Board of Directors. These provisions include, among other things, a classified Board of Directors; no cumulative voting in the election of directors; the exclusive right of our Board of Directors to fill a vacancy created by the expansion of the Board of Directors or the resignation, death, or removal of a director; the ability of our Board of Directors to issue shares of preferred stock, including determining the price, voting rights and other terms of such shares, without stockholder approval; requiring approval of certain transactions by the Independent Transaction

Committee of the Board; a prohibition on stockholder action by written consent and providing that a special meeting of stockholders may be called only by the chairman of the Board of Directors, the Chief Executive Officer, or the Board of Directors; limiting the liability of, and providing indemnification to, our directors and officers; controlling the procedures for the conduct and scheduling of stockholder meetings; allowing the Board of Directors to postpone or reschedule special meetings of stockholders; providing that directors may be removed prior to the expiration of their terms by stockholders only for cause; and advance notice procedures for nominating director candidates or proposing matters to be acted upon at a stockholders’ meeting. In addition, we are subject to provisions of Delaware law that may impair takeover attempts, including Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which generally provides that a corporation may not engage in any business combination with any interested stockholder during the three-year period following the time that such stockholder becomes an interested stockholder, unless certain approval requirements are met. Any provision of our certificate of incorporation or bylaws or Delaware law that has the effect of delaying or deterring a change in control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our common stock, and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our common stock.

Our certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for certain types of lawsuits, which could increase costs to bring a claim, discourage claims or limit the ability of our stockholders to bring a claim in a judicial forum viewed by the stockholders as more favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees.

Our certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers, or other employees to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, our certificate of incorporation or our bylaws, or (iv) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine. The choice of forum provision may increase costs to bring a claim, discourage claims or limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us or our directors, officers and other employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find this choice of forum provision to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions. The exclusive forum provision in our certificate of incorporation will not preclude or contract the scope of exclusive federal or concurrent jurisdiction for actions brought under the federal securities laws including the Exchange Act or the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the respective rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

As of December 31, 2021, we operated 143 stores located in 31 states and the District of Columbia with an average square footage of approximately 20,000 square feet. The table below sets forth the store locations (alphabetically by state) of our 143 stores in operation as of December 31, 2021.

We lease all of our stores. Our approximately 15,000 square foot headquarters in Plymouth, Minnesota is attached to our store. We own four regional facilities used for distribution of purchased product and manufacturing of setting and maintenance materials, located in Spring Valley, Wisconsin; Ottawa Lake, Michigan; Ridgeway, Virginia; and Durant, Oklahoma, which consist of 69,000, 271,000, 134,000, and 260,000 square feet, respectively. We also lease a distribution facility in Dayton, New Jersey that is 163,000 square feet.

We believe that our material property holdings are suitable for our current operations and purposes. 

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

We are, from time to time, party to lawsuits, threatened lawsuits, disputes and other claims arising in the normal course of business. We assess our liabilities and contingencies in connection with outstanding legal proceedings utilizing the latest information available. Where it is probable that we will incur a loss and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated, we record a liability in our consolidated financial statements. These legal accruals may be increased or decreased to reflect any relevant developments on a quarterly basis. Where a loss is not probable or the amount of the loss is not estimable, we do not record an accrual, consistent with applicable accounting guidance. In the opinion of management, while the outcome of such claims and disputes cannot be predicted with certainty, our ultimate liability in connection with these matters is not expected to have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial position or cash flows, and the amounts accrued for any individual matter are not material. However, legal proceedings are inherently uncertain. As a result, the outcome of a particular matter or a combination of matters may be material to our results of operations for a particular period, depending upon the size of the loss or our income for that particular period.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

None.

PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR THE REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Our common stock commenced trading on Nasdaq on June 17, 2021, under the symbol “TTSH.” Prior to that date, our common stock had been quoted on The OTC Pink Market under the symbol “TTSH” since November 2019.

As of February 28, 2022, we had approximately 420 holders of record of our common stock. This figure does not include the number of persons whose securities are held in nominee or “street” name accounts through brokers.

As of February 28, 2022, we had 51,925,256 shares of common stock outstanding. The last reported sales price for our common stock on February 28, 2022 was $6.33.

Dividends Paid Per Share

We suspended quarterly dividend payments on October 18, 2019 and, since that date, have paid one special cash dividend of $0.65 per share to stockholders of record on November 19, 2021. Any future determination with respect to the payment of dividends is at the discretion of our Board of Directors and is dependent upon our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, general business conditions, tax treatment of dividends in the United States, potential future contractual restrictions contained in credit agreements and other agreements and other factors deemed relevant by our Board of Directors. We can provide no assurance that we will pay any dividends to our stockholders in the future, or as to the amount of any such dividends.

Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

For information on our equity compensation plans, refer to Part III, Item 12. “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters.”

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

None.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

⁽¹⁾We withheld a total of 15,175 shares to satisfy tax withholding obligations due upon the vesting of restricted stock grants, as allowed by the 2012 Omnibus Award Plan (the “2012 Plan”) and the 2021 Omnibus Equity Compensation Plan (the “2021 Plan” and, together with the 2012 Plan, the “Plans”). We did not pay cash to repurchase these shares, nor were these repurchases part of a publicly announced plan or program. We repurchased an additional 3,195 shares pursuant to the terms of the underlying restricted stock agreements, as allowed by the 2012 Plan. We paid $0.0001 per share, the par value, to repurchase these shares. These repurchases were not part of a publicly announced plan or program.

⁽²⁾We withheld a total of 1,386 shares to satisfy tax withholding obligations due upon the vesting of restricted stock grants, as allowed by the Plans. We did not pay cash to repurchase these shares, nor were these repurchases part of a publicly announced plan or program. We repurchased an additional 1,136 shares pursuant to the terms of the underlying restricted stock agreements, as allowed by the 2012 Plan. We paid $0.0001 per share, the par value, to repurchase these shares. These repurchases were not part of a publicly announced plan or program.

Stock Performance Graph

The graph and table below present our cumulative total stockholder returns relative to the performance of the S&P SmallCap 600 and the Dow Jones U.S. Furnishings Index for the period commencing December 31, 2016 and ending December 31, 2021, the last trading day of fiscal year 2021. The comparison assumes $100 invested at the close of trading on December 31, 2016 in (i) our common stock, (ii) the stocks comprising the S&P SmallCap 600, and (iii) the stocks comprising the Dow Jones U.S. Furnishings Index. All values assume that all dividends were reinvested on the date paid. The points on the graph represent fiscal year-end amounts based on the last trading day in each fiscal year. The stock price performance included in the line graph below is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance.

ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

The following table sets forth selected historical financial information derived from (i) our audited financial statements included elsewhere in this report as of December 31, 2021 and 2020 and for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019 and (ii) our audited financial statements not included elsewhere in this report as of December 31, 2019, 2018, and 2017 and for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017. The following selected financial data should be read in conjunction with the section entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and the financial statements and the related notes appearing elsewhere in this report.

‎

⁽¹⁾On January 1, 2019, we adopted Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 842 which requires organizations that lease assets to recognize the rights and obligations created by those leases on the consolidated balance sheet. Upon adopting this standard, we established a right of use asset of $147.2 million and lease liabilities of $169.9 million, reduced deferred rent by $44.6 million, and recorded a cumulative effect adjustment to retained earnings of $22.0 million. The change in useful life assigned to certain leasehold improvements triggered by the Company’s election to apply the hindsight practical expedient resulted in a $15.3 million reduction in fixed assets and retained earnings. The net impact of the cumulative effect adjustments also resulted in a $1.7 million reduction of deferred tax assets and a corresponding adjustment to retained earnings.

⁽²⁾Total debt includes current maturities of long-term debt and long-term debt balances.

⁽³⁾We calculate Adjusted EBITDA by taking net income calculated in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”) and adjusting for interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, and stock based compensation expense. Prior to 2018, we also adjusted for special charges, including equity-related transaction costs, litigation and investigation costs, and the write-off of debt issuance costs. We have modified the Adjusted EBITDA presentation for the year ended December 31, 2017 to conform to the current presentation. Adjusted EBITDA margin is equal to Adjusted EBITDA divided by net sales. We believe that these non-GAAP measures of financial results provide useful information to management and investors regarding certain financial and business trends relating to our financial condition and results of operations. Our management uses these non-GAAP measures to compare our performance to that of prior periods for trend analyses, for purposes of determining management incentive compensation, for budgeting and planning purposes, and for assessing the effectiveness of capital allocation over time. These measures are used in monthly financial reports prepared for management and our Board of Directors. We believe that the use of these non-GAAP financial measures provides an additional tool for investors to use in evaluating ongoing operating results and trends and in comparing our financial measures with other specialty retailers, many of which present similar non-GAAP financial measures to investors.

⁽⁴⁾Gross margin rate is equal to gross profit divided by net sales.

⁽⁵⁾Operating income (loss) margin is equal to income (loss) from operations divided by net sales.

⁽⁶⁾Comparable store sales (decline) growth is the percentage change in sales of comparable stores period-over-period. A store is considered comparable on the first day of the 13th full month of operation. When a store is relocated, it is excluded from the comparable store sales growth calculation. Comparable store sales growth (decline) amounts include total charges to customers less any actual returns. We include the change in the allowance for anticipated sales returns applicable to comparable stores in the comparable store sales calculation. Comparable store sales data reported by other companies may be prepared on a different basis and therefore may not be useful for purposes of comparing our results to those of other businesses. Company management believes the comparable store sales (decline) growth metric provides useful information to both management and investors to evaluate the Company’s performance, the effectiveness of its strategy and its competitive position.

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA to GAAP Net Income (Loss)

The reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income (loss) for the years ended December 31, 2017 through December 31, 2021 is as follows:

⁽¹⁾Prior to 2018, we also adjusted for special charges, including equity-related transaction costs, litigation and investigation costs, and the write-off of debt issuance costs. We have modified the Adjusted EBITDA presentation for the year ended December 31, 2017 to conform to the current presentation.

Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales for the years ended December 31, 2017 through December 31, 2021 is as follows:

⁽¹⁾Prior to 2018, we also adjusted for special charges, including equity-related transaction costs, litigation and investigation costs, and the write-off of debt issuance costs. We have modified the Adjusted EBITDA presentation for the year ended December 31, 2017 to conform to the current presentation.

⁽²⁾Amounts do not foot due to rounding.

Our management does not consider these non-GAAP measures in isolation or as an alternative to financial measures determined in accordance with GAAP. The principal limitations of these non-GAAP financial measures are that they exclude significant expenses and income that are required by GAAP to be recognized in our consolidated financial statements. In addition, they are subject to inherent limitations as they reflect the exercise of judgments by management about which expenses and income are excluded or included in determining these non-GAAP financial measures. In order to compensate for these limitations, management presents non-GAAP financial measures in connection with GAAP results. We urge investors to review the reconciliation of our non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP financial measures and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business.

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

You should read the following discussion and analysis together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this report. Among other things, those historical consolidated financial statements include more detailed information regarding the basis of presentation for the financial data than is included in the following discussion. This report contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify these statements by words such as, but not limited to, “anticipate,” “believe,” “can,” “continue,” “could,” “depend,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “will likely result,” “would,” and similar expressions or variations, although some forward-looking statements are expressed differently. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this report relate to, among other things, our anticipated new store openings, remodeling plans, and growth opportunities; our business strengths, marketing strategies, competitive advantages and role in our industry and markets; our expectations regarding the potential impacts on our business of the COVID-19 pandemic, including its effect on general economic conditions and credit markets, the supply chain and product availability, labor, and on customer traffic to our stores, as well as the potential duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and adequacy of measures we have taken to attempt to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business; our ability to successfully implement our strategic plan and the anticipated benefits of our strategic plan; our ability to successfully anticipate consumer trends; any statements with respect to dividends and timing, methods, and payment of same; the effectiveness of our marketing strategy; potential fluctuations in our comparable store sales; our expectations regarding our and our customers’ financing arrangements and our ability to obtain additional capital, including potential difficulties of obtaining refinancing due to market conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic; supply costs and expectations, including the continued availability of sufficient products from our suppliers, risks related to relying on foreign suppliers, and the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on, among other things, product availability and pricing and timing and cost of deliveries; our expectations with respect to ongoing compliance with the terms of the credit facility, including the potential impact of the phase out of LIBOR; our ability to provide timely delivery to our customers; the effect of regulations on us and our industry, and our suppliers’ compliance with such regulations, including any environmental or climate change-related requirements; the impact of corporate citizenship and environmental, social and governance matters; our expectations regarding the effects of employee recruiting, training, mentoring, and retention on our ability to recruit and retain employees; tax-related risks; the potential impact of cybersecurity breaches or disruptions to our management information systems; our ability to successfully implement our information technology initiatives, including our ERP system; our ability to effectively manage our online sales; costs and adequacy of insurance; the potential impact of natural disasters, which may worsen or increase due to the effects of climate change, and other catastrophic events; risks inherent in operating as a holding company; fluctuations in material and energy costs; the potential outcome of any legal proceedings; and risks related to ownership of our common stock.

These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from any expected future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to:

the level of demand for our products;

our ability to grow and remain profitable in the highly competitive retail tile industry;

our ability to access additional capital;

our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel;

changes in general economic, business and industry conditions, including any recession caused by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic;

our ability to introduce new products that satisfy market demand; and

legal, regulatory, and tax developments, including additional requirements imposed by changes in domestic and foreign laws and regulations.

There is no assurance that our expectations will be realized. If one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if our underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected, estimated, or projected. Such risks and uncertainties also include those set forth in Part I, Item 1A. “Risk Factors,” of this report. These statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of our management based on information currently available to management. Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the time that they are made and do not necessarily reflect our outlook at any other point in time. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or for any other reason.

Overview

We are a specialty retailer of natural stone and man-made tiles, setting and maintenance materials, and related accessories in the United States. We offer a wide selection of products, attractive prices, and exceptional customer service in an extensive showroom setting. As of December 31, 2021, we operated 143 stores in 31 states and the District of Columbia, with an average size of approximately 20,000 square feet.

We purchase our tile products and accessories directly from suppliers and manufacture our own setting and maintenance materials, such as thinset, grout, and sealers. We believe that our long-term supplier relationships, together with our design and manufacturing and distribution capabilities, enable us to offer a broad assortment of high-quality products to our customers, who are primarily homeowners and professionals, at competitive prices. We have invested significant resources to develop our proprietary brands and product sources, and we believe that we are a leading retailer of natural stone and man-made tiles, setting and maintenance materials, and related accessories in the United States.

The table below sets forth information about our net sales, operating income and stores opened from 2019 to 2021.

Net sales increased $45.6 million from $325.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 to $370.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The net sales generated in 2021 represents a new annual sales record due to a 13.8% increase in sales at comparable stores. We believe this result was made possible by strong demand for home improvement products, an increase in ticket averages driven by higher prices for the products that we sell and the execution of our strategy.

We encountered a number of supply chain challenges during 2021. Earlier in the year, we experienced difficulty securing timely delivery of replenishment orders from our vendors which resulted in elevated levels of backorders. We made significant progress reducing backorders and improving our inventory position to $97.2 million as of December 31, 2021. Additionally, we are seeing an increase in the cost of the products we source from around the world due to vendor price increases in response to inflationary cost pressure and an increase in international shipping rates. This cost pressure is having an impact on our gross margin rate which fell to 66.1% during the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2021. In response to the cost pressure, we have and plan to continue to adjust our prices. We anticipate the cost pressure on our gross margin rates will persist into 2022.

Throughout 2021, we have slowly and deliberately taken steps to reinvest in the business to capture the elevated level of demand we are seeing in the marketplace. Since the beginning of the year, we have taken steps to expand hours in many of our stores, add employees to our workforce, and adjust compensation to remain competitive in the marketplace, particularly in our store warehouses and distribution centers. We have made a number of meaningful investments in technology, including our website, increased our marketing spend, and seen general SG&A expenses increase as we have resumed normal business in 2021. We believe that the steps taken to reinvest in the business in 2021 will position the Company for continued sales growth as we move into 2022.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic. COVID-19 has negatively impacted public health and the global economy, disrupted global supply chains, and created volatility in financial markets. We have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and we anticipate we will continue to be negatively impacted at least throughout the duration of the pandemic. The continuing implications of COVID-19 on us remain uncertain and will depend on certain future developments, including the duration, scope and severity of the pandemic and the effects of new variants of COVID-19, some of which may be more virulent or transmissible than the initial strain; its impact on our employees, customers and suppliers; the range and timing of government mandated restrictions and other measures, including the reimplementation of previously lifted measures or imposition of new measures; and the success of the deployment and widespread adoption of approved COVID-19 vaccines and their effectiveness against new variants of COVID-19. This uncertainty could have a material impact on the accounting estimates and assumptions utilized to prepare our consolidated financial statements in future reporting periods, which could result in a material adverse impact on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on our operations during 2020. For instance, we experienced a sharp decline in traffic toward the end of the first quarter of 2020 following the onset of COVID-19 in the United States. In response, we took steps to reduce selling, general and administrative expenses by eliminating a portion of our workforce, reducing store hours, curtailing advertising spending, reducing the number of replenishment trucks sent from our distribution centers to our stores and limiting other SG&A spending when possible. As state and local governments started lifting restrictions toward the end of the second quarter of 2020, we saw an improvement in traffic and sales trends. Throughout the remainder of 2020, we took a cautious approach to investing in activities that would increase our SG&A expenses, which included operating our stores at a reduced hours schedule compared to the prior year.

The pandemic has had a significant impact on our supply chain. During 2021, we experienced elevated levels of product shortages, which were partially due to vendor production delays and global shipping capacity constraints resulting, in part, from the impact of COVID-19. We were able to work with our vendors to secure delivery of backordered product and improve our overall inventory levels as of December 31, 2021. Additionally, many of our vendors have begun to communicate price increases in response to inflationary cost pressure, which, combined with escalated international shipping rates, is resulting in an increase in the cost of our inventory and corresponding pressure on our gross margin rates. In response to this cost pressure, we have adjusted, and plan to continue to adjust, our pricing.

While we are cautiously optimistic with the current business trend and the progress made distributing COVID-19 vaccinations in recent months, the continued sporadic outbreaks of COVID-19 cases occurring globally, as well as the ongoing spread of new COVID-19 variants, could have a negative impact on us. Specifically, we could be adversely impacted by limitations on our employees to perform their work due to illness caused by the pandemic or local, state or federal orders requiring stores to close or employees to remain home; labor shortages resulting from various factors; limitations of carriers to deliver our products to customers; product shortages; limitations on the ability of our customers to conduct their business and purchase our products and services; and limitations on the ability of our customers to pay us in a timely manner. These events could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, cash flows and liquidity. In addition, even after the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided, we may continue to experience adverse impacts to our business as a result of the economic impact of the pandemic.

Effects of Inflation

Our operating results are heavily dependent upon the prices paid to acquire manmade and natural store products from our vendors around the world. The cost to source our products has increased over the last year due to an increase in international freight rates and vendor price increases, due in part to higher labor costs, energy prices, and other inflationary pressures. In response to rising costs, we have and plan to continue to adjust our pricing; however, continued volatility and inflationary pressure could adversely affect our financial results.

Other Recent Developments

On November 4, 2021, we announced that our Board of Directors declared a special dividend of $0.65 per share payable on December 3, 2021 to the Company’s stockholders of record at the close of business on November 19, 2021. The payment of the special dividend resulted in a $32.9 million return of capital to shareholders during the fourth quarter of 2021.

Key Components of our Consolidated Statements of Operations

Net Sales – Net sales represents total charges to customers, net of returns, and includes freight charged to customers. We recognize sales at the time that the customer takes control of the merchandise or final delivery of the product has occurred. We are required to charge and collect sales and other taxes on sales to our customers and remit these taxes back to government authorities. Total revenues do not include sales tax because we are a pass-through conduit for collecting and remitting sales tax. Sales are reduced by a reserve for anticipated sales returns that we estimate based on historical returns.

Comparable store sales growth is the percentage change in sales of comparable stores period-over-period. A store is considered comparable on the first day of the 13th full month of operation. When a store is relocated, it is excluded from the comparable store sales growth calculation. Comparable store sales growth amounts include total charges to customers less any actual returns. We include the change in allowance for anticipated sales returns applicable to comparable stores in the comparable store sales calculation. Comparable store sales data reported by other companies may be prepared on a different basis and therefore may not be useful for purposes of comparing our results to those of other businesses. Company management believes the comparable store sales (decline) growth metric provides useful information to both management and investors to evaluate the Company’s performance, the effectiveness of its strategy and its competitive position.

Cost of Sales – Cost of sales consists primarily of material costs, freight, custom and duty fees, and storage and delivery of product to the customers, as well as physical inventory losses and costs associated with manufacturing of setting and maintenance materials.

Gross Profit – Gross profit is net sales less cost of sales. Gross margin rate is the percentage determined by dividing gross profit by net sales.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses – Selling, general and administrative expenses consist primarily of compensation costs, occupancy, utilities, maintenance costs, advertising cost, shipping and transportation expenses to move inventory from our distribution centers to our stores, and depreciation and amortization.

Pre-opening Costs – Our pre-opening costs are those typically associated with the opening of a new store and generally include rent expense, compensation costs and promotional costs. We expense pre-opening costs as incurred and include these costs in selling, general and administrative expenses.

Income Taxes – We are subject to income tax in the United States as well as other tax jurisdictions in which we conduct business.

Comparison of the Year Ended December 31, 2021 to the Year Ended December 31, 2020

Net Sales – Net sales increased $45.6 million, or 14.0%, in 2021 compared to 2020. The sales results during 2020 were adversely impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in reduced store hours, lower levels of traffic and an overall decrease in sales during the twelve months ended December 31, 2020. Over the last 12 months, we have seen improved sales due to strong demand for home improvement products, an increase in the average ticket driven by higher prices, and the execution of our strategy that have contributed to a 13.8% increase in sales at comparable stores during 2021.

Gross Profit – Gross profit increased $31.6 million, or 14.3%, in 2021 compared to 2020. The gross margin rate was 68.3% and 68.1% for 2021 and 2020, respectively. The increase in gross margin was primarily driven by better pricing during the first half of 2021 and an improvement in customer delivery collection rates.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses – Selling, general and administrative expenses increased $17.4 million, or 8.1%, in 2021 compared to 2020. The increase included a $7.3 million increase in variable compensation expenses, a $1.9 million increase in transportation costs and a $1.1 million increase in interchange fees. Additionally, SG&A expenses increased as we resumed normal business operations during 2021 and included a $3.9 million increase in staffing costs, a $1.5 million increase in benefits, and a $1.4 million increase in marketing expenses. We recorded $0.7 million and $2.2 million of asset impairment charges during the twelve months ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively.

Interest Expense – Interest expense decreased $1.2 million, or 65.0%, in 2021 compared to 2020. The decrease in interest expense was primarily due to a lower level of average debt in 2021.

Provision (Benefit) for Income Taxes – The provision for income taxes increased $6.7 million for 2021 compared to 2020. Our effective tax rate was 26.0% in 2021 and (34.0)% in 2020. The tax benefit recognized during 2020 and the improvement in the effective tax rate was primarily due to the enactment of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which gave us the ability to carry back federal net operating losses to years with a federal statutory tax rate of 35%.

Comparison of the Year Ended December 31, 2020 to the Year Ended December 31, 2019

A detailed discussion of the fiscal year 2020 performance compared to fiscal year 2019 is set forth in Part II, Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Comparison of the Year Ended December 31, 2020 to the Year Ended December 31, 2019,” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, as filed with the SEC on March 11, 2021, which discussion is incorporated herein by reference.

Non-GAAP Measures

We calculate Adjusted EBITDA by taking net income calculated in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”) and adjusting for interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, and stock based compensation expense. Adjusted EBITDA margin is equal to Adjusted EBITDA divided by net sales. We calculate pretax return on capital employed by taking income (loss) from operations divided by capital employed. Capital employed equals total assets less accounts payable, income taxes payable, other accrued liabilities, lease liability and other long-term liabilities. Other companies may calculate both Adjusted EBITDA and pretax return on capital employed differently, limiting the usefulness of these measures for comparative purposes.

We believe that these non-GAAP measures of financial results provide useful information to management and investors regarding certain financial and business trends relating to our financial condition and results of operations. Our management uses these non-GAAP measures to compare our performance to that of prior periods for trend analyses, for purposes of determining management incentive compensation, for budgeting and planning purposes, and for assessing the effectiveness of capital allocation over time. These measures are used in monthly financial reports prepared for management and our Board of Directors. We believe that the use of these non-GAAP financial measures provides an additional tool for investors to use in evaluating ongoing operating results and trends

and in comparing our financial measures with other specialty retailers, many of which present similar non-GAAP financial measures to investors.

Our management does not consider these non-GAAP measures in isolation or as an alternative to financial measures determined in accordance with GAAP. The principal limitations of these non-GAAP financial measures are that they exclude significant expenses and income that are required by GAAP to be recognized in our consolidated financial statements. In addition, they are subject to inherent limitations as they reflect the exercise of judgments by management about which expenses and income are excluded or included in determining these non-GAAP financial measures. In order to compensate for these limitations, management presents non-GAAP financial measures in connection with GAAP results. We urge investors to review the reconciliation of our non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP financial measures and not to rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business.

The reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 follows:

Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 follows: