Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Apr. 28, 2012

Note 4: Property, Plant and Equipment

(Amounts in thousands)	Estimated Useful Lives		4/28/2012			4/30/2011
Buildings and building fixtures		3-40 years	$	168,451		$	167,302
Machinery and equipment		3-20 years		141,476			140,921
Information systems and software		3-10 years		56,621			53,733
Land		—		15,158			15,179
Land improvements		3-30 years		10,772			10,337
Transportation equipment		3-10 years		17,595			16,593
Furniture and fixtures		3-20 years		12,335			12,031
Construction in progress				7,249			5,706
				429,657			421,802
Accumulated depreciation				(315,291	)		(301,199	)
Net property, plant and equipment			$	114,366		$	120,603

Depreciation expense for the fiscal years ended April 28, 2012, April 30, 2011, and April 24, 2010, was $21.3 million, $22.0 million and $22.6 million, respectively.

Long-lived assets are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value of an asset or asset group may not be recoverable. We did not have any long-lived asset impairments during fiscal 2012. During fiscal 2011, the estimated undiscounted cash flows (based upon, among other things, our annual forecasting process) related to certain locations were less than the carrying value of the underlying assets. As a result, we recorded an impairment charge of $1.8 million for several locations owned by our then consolidated California VIE and $1.3 million for various company owned stores. In addition, during fiscal 2011 we decided to vacate one of our facilities and recorded an impairment charge of $1.3 million representing the full carrying value of leasehold improvements at that location. We did not have any long-lived asset impairments during fiscal 2010.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for long-lived, physical assets that are used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services and not intended for resale. Examples include land, buildings, machinery and equipment, and other types of furniture and equipment including, but not limited to, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment and software. This disclosure may include property plant and equipment accounting policies and methodology, a schedule of property, plant and equipment gross, additions, deletions, transfers and other changes, depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, net, accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization expense and useful lives, income statement disclosures, assets held for sale and public utility disclosures.

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