WRAPUP 2-Zumiez, Hot Topic Sept same-store sales beat estimates

* Zumiez Sept. comp sales down 0.8 pct vs est down 1 pct

* Hot Topic comp sales fall 4 pct vs est down 6.3 pct (Adds details, analyst comments)

By Abhishek Takle

BANGALORE, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Apparel retailers Zumiez Inc (ZUMZ.O) and Hot Topic Inc (HOTT.O) posted better-than-expected September sales in stores open at least a year.

Hot Topic shares were up 7 percent at $8.25 in trading after the bell. They had closed at $7.70 Wednesday on Nasdaq. Shares of Everett, Washington-based Zumiez were up 2 cents at $15.96.

Zumiez, which sells clothing and equipment for skaters, snowboarders and the like, posted a 0.8 percent fall in September same-store sales, marginally better than the 1 percent decline expected by analysts, according to Thomson Reuters data.

September same-store sales were positively impacted by a shift in the Labor Day weekend into the second week of the month and therefore later back-to-school shopping, Chief Financial Officer Trevor Lang said in a pre-recorded call.

In the second week of September, the company's same-store sales were up 29.1 percent, before falling 13.7 percent in the third week, Lang said on the call.

In the fourth week they were down 13 percent, before recovering slightly to fall 8.3 percent in the fifth week.

"If you were to look at the weekly sales trends, week five sales trends actually saw a slight bounce which is quite encouraging heading into October," Wedbush analyst Betty Chen told Reuters.

However, Roth Capital Partners analyst Elizabeth Pierce said a sequential improvement was unlikely.

"I think October is going to be very wishy washy. The next catalyst, not only for Zumiez but for all of them, really becomes if it gets colder because that will prompt people to start thinking about outerwear and sweaters etc."

Total sales in September rose 8.4 percent to $36.5 million, the company said.

The company also said for the nine weeks ended Oct. 3, comparable sales in stores in the western half of the country were down in the low double digits. It seems like same-store sales were stabilizing in a market which contributes about 55 percent of sales, Chen added.

"TORRID" SALES

Hot Topic, known for its Goth- and rock 'n' roll-inspired apparel and accessories, posted a 4 percent decline in comparable sales, narrower than analysts expectations for a decline of 6.3 percent.

Sales at the company's Torrid division rose 4 percent driven by a mid-single digit percentage increase in the number of transactions, while the Hot Topic division posted a decline of 6 percent.

"Torrid was responsible for the beat, absolutely," Roth's Pierce said.

"Its tough because you don't want to take the beat away from them but the beat was Torrid, not the main business," Pierce added.

Total sales at company fell 2.5 percent to $59.3 million in September. (Reporting by Abhishek Takle in Bangalore; Editing by Pradeep Kurup)