Nordstrom: Up and Down

Sales are up but profits are down at Nordstrom Inc. (Seattle),which reported a 25 percent drop in first quarter profits despite a5.6 percent sales increase from $1.15 billion to $1.22 billion.

Stores open at least a year suffered a 3.7 percent sales slip. Butthe men's line suffered the biggest sales decline, falling to lowdouble digits in the first quarter. Peter Nordstrom, president offull-line stores, could not explain the sales drop-off.

Women's apparel, however, is showing signs of improvement aftermonths of efforts to repair the flailing division. The retailer'sexperiment with trendy merchandise was determined as the reason foralienating its customer base.