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Department-store operator Macy’s Inc. said Thursday it will close 11 underperforming stores in nine states - affecting 960 employees - and lowered its forecast for the fourth quarter after one of the weakest holiday seasons in years.

The Macy’s at Crestwood Mall, which opened in 1969, will be closed. It employs 176 people, Macy’s said in a statement posted on its website.

Dillard’s closed its Crestwood mall store in 2007. Sears remains.

Jim Eckrich, Crestwood’s city administrator, told the Post-Dispatch that he learned of the closing in a conference call this morning with representatives of Macy’s and the mall’s owner, Centrum Properties. Eckrich said the officials told him the store will close April 1.

"Obviously, it’s not good for the city," Eckrich said.

He said Sears, which will become the mall’s lone remaining anchor, is a "strong store." Eckrich added that a Centrum official told him the company will strive to keep the remaining tenants.

Eckrich estimated the closing would cost the city of Crestwood $350,000 in taxes this year. That’s about 2.5 percent of the city’s $13.7 million budget.

Other Macy’s stores slated to close include locations in Los Angeles, West Palm Beach, Fla., and Nashville, Tenn., among others. Cincinnati-based Macy’s Inc. says the closures will cost about $65 million, most of which will be booked in the 2008 fourth quarter.

Clearance sales at the stores begin next week.

"These closings are part of our normal-course process to prune underperforming locations each year in order to maintain a healthy portfolio of stores," said Macy’s Chief Executive Terry J. Lundgren in a statement.

Employees at the stores that are closing may be considered for open positions at other Macy’s stores, the company said fast cash loan online.

Department-store operators have been among the harder-hit in the retail sector as consumers cut back amid the recession, hunting for bargains and trading down to discounters.

Macy’s reported Thursday that its December sales at stores open at least a year, or same-store sales, fell 4 percent - still not as bad as the 5.3 percent drop analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting.

Total sales for the five-week period ended Jan. 3 fell 5 percent to $4.4 billion from $4.61 billion last year.

Same-store sales fell 7.5 percent during the combined November and December holiday period. Macy’s said the holiday season ended with improving sales in the fourth and fifth weeks of December but that sales were sluggish before that.

The company said it marked items down sharply in the fourth quarter to gain sales and reduce its inventories, but that hurt its margins and led it to lower its profit forecast for the fourth quarter and full year.

Macy’s now expects earnings of 90 cents to $1 per share in the fourth quarter, down from its previous guidance of $1.10 to $1.30 per share. Analysts expect earnings of $1.11 per share.

For the full year, the company now expects to earn $1.10 to $1.20 per share, down from its previous forecast of $1.30 to $1.50 per share. Analysts expect a profit of $1.35 per share.

Tim Bryant of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

tbryant@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8206

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