LEASES

The Company's lease portfolio is primarily comprised of leases for retail store locations. The Company also leases certain equipment and corporate office space. Store leases for new stores typically have an initial term of 10 years, with options to renew for an additional 1 to 5 years. The exercise of lease renewal options is at the Company's sole discretion and is included in the lease term for calculations of its right-of-use assets and liabilities when it is reasonably certain that the Company plans to renew these leases. Certain store lease agreements include rental payments based on a percentage of retail sales over contractual levels and others include rental payments adjusted periodically for inflation. Lease agreements do not contain any residual value guarantees, material restrictive covenants, or options to purchase the leased property.

The Company records its lease liabilities at the present value of the lease payments not yet paid, discounted at the rate of interest that the Company would have to pay to borrow on a collateralized basis over a similar term. As the Company's leases do not provide an implicit interest rate, the Company obtains an incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at commencement date in determining the present value of lease payments.

The Company has elected to apply the practical expedient to account for lease components (e.g. fixed payments for rent, insurance, and real estate taxes) and non-lease components (e.g. fixed payments for common area maintenance) together as a single component for all underlying asset classes. Additionally, the Company elected as an accounting policy to exclude short-term leases from the recognition requirements.

Lease expense is included in cost of sales in the consolidated statements of income. The components of total lease cost are as follows:


	Fiscal Years Ended
	February 1, 2025		February 3, 2024		January 28, 2023

Operating lease cost	$	102,140	$	99,172	$	94,546
Variable lease cost (a)	22,694		24,243		29,114
Total lease cost	$	124,834	$	123,415	$	123,660

(a) Includes variable payments related to both lease and non-lease components, such as contingent rent payments based on performance and payments related to taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs. Also includes payments related to short-term leases with periods of less than twelve months.

Supplemental cash flow information related to leases is as follows:


	Fiscal Years Ended
	February 1, 2025		February 3, 2024		January 28, 2023

Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of lease liabilities:
Operating cash flows from operating leases	$	105,553	$	102,383	$	97,547

Right-of-use assets obtained in exchange for lease obligations:
Operating leases	$	131,897	$	122,824	$	125,554

The Company uses its incremental borrowing rate as the discount rate to determine the present value of lease payments. As of February 1, 2025, the weighted-average remaining lease term was 6.0 years and the weighted-average discount rate was 6.2%.

The table below reconciles undiscounted future lease payments (e.g. fixed payments for rent, insurance, real estate taxes, and common area maintenance) for each of the next five fiscal years and the total of the remaining years to the operating lease liabilities recorded on the consolidated balance sheet as of February 1, 2025:


Fiscal Year	Operating Leases (a)
2025	$	96,435
2026	78,006
2027	53,462
2028	37,529
2029	29,213
Thereafter	100,567
Total lease payments	395,212
Less: Imputed interest	68,949
Total operating lease liability	$	326,263

(a) Operating lease payments exclude $67,884 of legally binding minimum lease payments for leases signed, but not yet commenced.

About Leases Disclosures

Lease disclosures under ASC 842 provide a comprehensive view of a company's leased asset portfolio, including the split between operating and finance leases, discount rates used to present-value future payments, and the maturity schedule of lease obligations. This section reveals a significant source of off-balance-sheet commitments that were largely hidden before the current standard.

Key signals: the weighted-average discount rate affects the size of recorded lease liabilities — a higher rate reduces the reported obligation, so compare the chosen rate against the company's incremental borrowing rate. The operating versus finance lease mix affects both EBITDA and operating income presentation. Watch the maturity table for concentration risk: large payment cliffs in specific years may create cash flow pressure. Variable lease payments excluded from the liability measurement represent real obligations that do not appear on the balance sheet. Compare total lease costs against prior-year operating lease expense to assess the true economic burden.

BUCKLE INC Leases Disclosure

About Leases Disclosures

Other Available Disclosures