R H Macy Co Inc

Another venerable name in Southern California retailing--Bullock's--will soon disappear from the scene. Federated Department Stores confirmed Thursday that it will convert its 21-store Bullock's chain into Macy's stores to place its statewide merchandising operations under one retailing roof.

Department store giant Macy's Inc. said Tuesday that it would shut five underperforming stores this year. No California locations are scheduled to close. The affected stores are in Boise, Idaho; Waterford, Mich.; St. Ann, Mo.; Missoula, Mont.; and Burlington, N.J. Final clearance sales will begin Sunday and run for about two months, the company said. The closures will leave Macy's with 809 namesake locations and 40 Bloomingdale's stores. "The decision to close stores is difficult and often occurs when the market changes, new competing shopping centers are opened nearby to existing older ones or when customers change shopping habits," Chief Executive Terry J. Lundgren said.

Macy's Junk Bonds Rise on Sales Projection: R. H. Macy & Co. Inc.'s junk bonds rose after it was reported that the retailer expects sales to rise 8.3% over the next two quarters. The company's 14.5% junk bonds maturing in 1998 rose 50 cents to $84.50 for securities with a $100 face value. The report in the Wall Street Journal also said Macy projected its operating profits would rise 69% during the coming two quarters, which include the crucial Christmas season.

Wrapped in the music, lights and relentlessly red decor of Christmas at Macy's, Kathleen Kwiatkowski opened her wallet with a little pull from holidays past. Like millions of other Americans, Kwiatkowski says she shops at the department store for its selection, ample coupons and easy return policy. But in part it's simply tradition. "Macy's is Christmas," said the West Hollywood resident, 56, examining a stack of knit tops at the Beverly Center store. "My mother used to take me to the New York store when I was a little girl."

Prices of R. H. Macy & Co. Inc. junk bonds fell sharply Thursday after a securities analyst said the company might have to file for bankruptcy court protection after the disappointing holiday sales season for the troubled old-line retailer.

At the Bullocks Wilshire flagship store, that Art Deco masterpiece in Los Angeles' Mid-Wilshire district, workers went about their business last Tuesday morning with perhaps a bit more briskness and efficiency than usual. Vacuum cleaners whirred, and salespeople with dust mittens took frequent swipes at their countertops. Why the fuss? "Mr. Macy," an elevator operator with salt-and-pepper hair and mustache said with a wink. Mr. Macy, indeed.

The I. Magnin department store on Wilshire Boulevard, which in its heyday as Bullocks Wilshire represented the pinnacle of fashion in Los Angeles, will close at the end of the month because of the lingering Southland recession and the troubles of its parent company. R. H. Macy & Co. said Monday it will close the historic, Art Deco-style store along with seven other I.

Will it be Macy's or will it be Bullock's? The name R. H. Macy & Co. will use when it takes over the Bullock's, Bullocks Wilshire and I. Magnin stores was a big topic of discussion in Southern California retailing circles and among shoppers Friday. Macy's hasn't said what it will do. Although Macy's, Bullock's and I. Magnin all have premium store identities, they conjure up different images to shoppers.

If Bullock's department stores are starting to look a lot like Macy's, it's no accident. The big New York retailer--known for its flashy, moderately priced department stores--bought the upscale Southern California chain last May and has been busily putting its imprint on the 22 stores. Out is the understated, less-is-more merchandising style that was a Bullock's trademark. In are splashy graphics and racks and shelves bulging with goods. Out are Bullock's genteel, sketched newspaper ads.

They called it Store Wars, and the casualty list keeps growing. To date, more than 4,000 jobs have been lost at some of the nation's best-known department stores. Chains like Brooks Bros., Bullock's, Ralphs and Bloomingdale's have been bought, sold and traded like so many baseball cards. Giant Federated Department Stores, a company that set the pace for much of retailing in the '60s, '70s and early '80s, is history.

Macy's Inc. said Friday that fiscal-year profit would fall more than it had forecast as the U.S. economy and consumer confidence weaken. Macy's is the latest retailer to project earnings declines as the global credit crisis deepens, retirement accounts plunge and shoppers spend less. Department stores have been hit especially hard because people aren't spending much on anything other than the basics. J.C. Penney Co., Kohl's Corp. and Nordstrom Inc. projected earnings declines earlier this week.

Macy's Inc. posted lower second-quarter profit Wednesday and warned that its full-year earnings would be below expectations. Macy's earned $73 million, or 17 cents a share, in the quarter that ended Aug. 2, compared with $74 million, or 16 cents, a year earlier. Excluding two one-time items, Macy's earned 29 cents a share from continuing operations. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected earnings of 19 cents a share on revenue of $5.75 billion. Revenue fell 3% to $5.7 billion, while same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, dropped 2.1%.

Macy's said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit edged up 2.3% as a tax settlement helped offset weaker-than-expected sales. The department store operator said profit rose to $750 million, or $1.73 a share, in the three months ended Feb. 2, from $733 million, or $1.40, a year earlier. But revenue fell 6% to $8.59 billion. Excluding integration costs stemming from its acquisition of May Department Stores Co. in 2005, a tax settlement and other items, net income was $1.65 a share, a nickel ahead of the estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Macy's Inc. announced a restructuring Wednesday that involves cutting 2,300 jobs and closing some division headquarters as the department store operator tries to reduce costs and offset declining sales. Macy's also said January sales at stores open at least one fiscal year fell a more-than-expected 7.1% and forecast fourth-quarter earnings that, excluding a tax credit, would miss current Wall Street targets.

Macy's Inc. said it would close nine poor-performing stores and cut 899 jobs. The stores to be shuttered are in Ohio, Louisiana, Utah, Indiana, Oklahoma and Texas. All the stores were acquired when the chain bought May Department Stores Co. in 2005, spokesman Jim Sluzewski said. The Cincinnati-based retailer said it expected to open five new stores in 2008 and six to eight more in 2009.

Macy's Inc., the owner of its namesake chain and Bloomingdale's, said Wednesday that it had a fiscal third-quarter profit after limiting expenses. The retailer cut its fourth-quarter sales forecast, sending the shares down the most in more than five years. Macy's reversed a year-earlier loss as costs to integrate the May Department Stores Co. locations it acquired shrank to $17 million from $145 million.

A standoff over Los Angeles cultural heritage ended Tuesday with the announcement that R. H. Macy & Co. has returned nearly all the historically significant fixtures and furnishings it removed last year from its closed Bullocks Wilshire store. City leaders and preservationists had campaigned vigorously for the return of chandeliers, furniture, clocks, urns, fireplace screens, sconces and other fixtures moved out of the landmark 1929 Art Deco building.

Hoping to seize on worker discontent at stores owned by Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores Inc., the Teamsters union on Sunday launched a second organizing drive in Orange County, this one aimed at Macy's South Coast Plaza stores. Employees circulated cards authorizing Teamsters Local 848 of El Monte to represent them in collective bargaining, and by day's end had collected 31 signatures.

Macy's wants to be America's department store, but America isn't entirely buying it -- and that could mean the entire company could soon be sold. Buyout king Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. is close to reaching a deal to buy Macy's Inc. for $24 billion, Women's Wear Daily reported Wednesday. Both sides declined to comment on the report, but investors greeted the news by bidding up Macy's shares $3.06, or 8%, to $43.09.