On January 1, a store had a \(\$ 51,000\) inventory at cost. During the first quarter of the year, it purchased \(\$ 195,000\) of merchandise, returned \(\$ 1,500\), and paid freight charges on merchandise purchased totaling \(\$ 10,500\). During the past several years, the store's gross profit on sales has averaged \(35 \%\). Under the assumption the company had \(\$ 288,000\) of sales during the first quarter of the year, use the gross profit method to estimate its end of the first quarter inventory.