Macy’s to close stores, including 2 in Oregon

It will cut about 3,000 sales associate jobs and more other back-office and call center positions.

The two Spokane area store locations at Northown Mall and the Spokane Valley Mall will remain open.

Clearance sales begin Monday in stores at Chapel Hill Mall, Akron, Ohio; Midway Mall, Elyria, Ohio; Suburban Square, Ardmore, Pa.;and Century III Mall, West Mifflin, Pa. The stores are expected to be closed by early spring.

The company said it expects to generate about $400 million in savings beginning this year.

Macy’s Inc., one of the nation’s leading retailers, operates about 900 stores in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico. “So we will continue to add stores selectively while also being disciplined about closing stores that are unproductive or no longer robust shopping destinations because of changes in the local retail shopping landscape”. It is blaming warm weather and lower spending by worldwide tourists.

In total the company is closing 40 stores across the country. The department store cited a “challenging” holiday season with sales down 4.7-percent.

Macy’s said it now expects its fourth quarter and full year profits to fall short of its previous estimate. Macy’s cut its fourth-quarter earnings guidance to $2.18 to $2.23 per diluted share, excluding those charges, versus a consensus forecast of $2.53 per share, according to Thomson Reuters.

Still, Wall Street cheered the belt tightening, bidding Macy’s shares up almost 6% in after-hours trading on Wednesday.