As a result, enterprise same-store sales declined 3.7%.
For added perspective at the end of the quarter, approximately 45% of our store locations were under some level of capacity restriction or closure across the globe.
Despite the top line disruptions, hair color was up 19% at Sally U.S. and Canada.
In addition, vivid colors remained on trend and delivered another quarter of strong performance, up approximately 50% at Sally U.S. and Canada over the prior year.
In Q1, vivid accounted for 25% of our total color sales and they continue to attract a new and younger customer to our stores.
Finally, nails were up 7% at Sally U.S. and Canada and salon supplies were up over 50% at BSG compared to the prior year.
Additionally, our e-commerce business achieved strong growth, up 48% versus a year ago.
Despite the external pressures of the macro environment, our teams also did an excellent job on margin and expense control, which resulted in first quarter adjusted earnings per share of $0.50, up 6% on a year-on-year basis.
We ended the quarter with inventory down 10% compared to the prior year and approximately $538 million of cash on the balance sheet.
More on this from Marlo later in the call.
As we reflect back on the investments we've made and the hard work of our teams over the past 3.5 years, today, we have a business that is well positioned from a strategic, operational and financial perspective.
And third, we expect to further reduce our debt leverage ratio closer to our target of 2.5.
For example, At Sally U.S. and Canada, BOPIS accounted for 11% of our e-commerce sales for the quarter after launching nationwide in November.
And BOPIS sales surpassed 20% of our e-commerce sales for the month of December, while ship from store represented 31% of our e-commerce sales during the quarter.
We are rapidly gaining traction on the rollout of our Private Label Rewards Credit Card to both Sally and BSG customers in the U.S. At the end of the first quarter, we had 163,000 cardholders.
And our rewards card accounted for 2% of sales in the Sally segment and 5% in the BSG segment.
I've been with the company now for 10 months.
And by the end of Q1, approximately 45% of our stores globally were operating under capacity restrictions or closures.
This resulted in a consolidated same-store sales decline of 3.7%.
Our global e-commerce business remained strong in Q1 with consolidated sales up 48% versus one year ago.
First quarter gross margin came in at 50.3%, up 190 basis points to last year.
We anticipate that our targeted promotional strategy will allow us to continue to deliver strong consolidated gross margin in the range of 50%.
SG&A expenses totaled $366 million in Q1, down $12 million versus last year.
As we expected, as a percentage of sales, SG&A deleveraged on a year-over-year basis, coming in at 39.1%, up 50 basis points from Q1 of 2020 due to lower sales volume.
In Q1, adjusted operating margin was up 130 basis points to 11.2%.
Adjusted EBITDA increased 5% to $134 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share grew 6% to $0.50.
The first quarter same-store sales decline of 3.3% can largely be traced to extensive closures and restrictions in Europe and Latin America.
In the U.S. and Canada, same-store sales declines were less than 1%.
This drove a significant increase in segment operating margin, which expanded 440 basis points to 17.4%.
E-commerce remained strong, up 46% versus one year ago.
In our BSG segment, same-store sales declines of 4.6% and primarily reflect restrictions on store capacity across several territories in the U.S. and Canada and salon closures in California and parts of Canada.
E-commerce remained strong, delivering growth of 51% over the prior year.
Gross margin decreased by 40 basis points, reflecting higher capitalized costs due to lower inventory purchases.
We ended the first quarter with $538 million of cash on the balance sheet and a zero balance on our $600 million revolving line of credit.
Inventories at quarter end totaled $896 million.
That's down 10% versus one year ago and reflects our efforts to return to more optimal levels.
As a result, first quarter cash flow from operations came in better than we anticipated at $39 million.
Capital expenditures totaled $15 million and were deployed mostly toward store repair and maintenance and digital capabilities, most notably buy online/pick up in-store.
Free cash flow was $24 million for the quarter.
At the end of Q1, our leverage ratio stood at 2.78 times.
For comparison purposes, the leverage ratio that we often cite, as defined in our loan agreement, where the impact of cash on hand is capped at $100 million for net debt calculation purposes was 3.73 times.
After the close of the quarter, we further reduced our debt levels by another $213 million in early January, which is consistent with our philosophy to deleverage the balance sheet.
In fiscal 2021, we expect to make additional progress toward bringing our debt leverage ratio closer to our target of 2.5 times.

Summary:
As a result, enterprise same-store sales declined 3.7%.
Despite the external pressures of the macro environment, our teams also did an excellent job on margin and expense control, which resulted in first quarter adjusted earnings per share of $0.50, up 6% on a year-on-year basis.
More on this from Marlo later in the call.
This resulted in a consolidated same-store sales decline of 3.7%.
Adjusted EBITDA increased 5% to $134 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share grew 6% to $0.50.