Macy's to close 6 stores, open or expand 9

• Tweet

CINCINNATI, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- U.S. retail giant Macy's Inc. said it would close six stores in 2013 and open or expand nine others.

The retailer said it would shutter its Bloomingdale's Fashion Show Mall Home Store in Las Vegas at the cost of 35 jobs, but expand its Macy's presence in Fashion Show Mall with the addition of 65 jobs there.

Macy's said it was closing stores in Honolulu; Houston; Pasadena, Calif.; Belmont, Mass., and St. Paul, Minn.

The retailer said it was part of normal operations to close under-performing stores and expand in locations that showed promise.

The store closings would result in 634 job losses. But the retailer is gaining personnel overall, as it said the new locations would mean the creation of about 1,320 jobs.

Stores would open or expand in Victorville, Calif., Gurney Mills, Ill., New York City's Bronx borough, Sarasota, Fla., Las Vegas, Bay Shore, N.Y., Glendale, Calif., and Palo Alto, Calif.

Macy's said same-store sales rose 4.1 percent in December, which was a respectable gain, although it fell shy of the company's expectations.

Sales reached $5.1 billion for the five weeks ending Dec. 29, a 3.6 percent increase over the same period of 2011.

For November and December, same-store sales rose 2.5 percent, Macy's said.

"While the rate of growth was somewhat less than we had expected in the first two months of the fourth quarter, it came amid some significant headwinds from uncertain economic news and the lingering effects of Hurricane Sandy," Terry Lundgren, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Macy's Inc., said in a statement.

"All said, we are proud of our accomplishments in driving growth this holiday season and we believe we continued to gain market share."