Retail Cutbacks

Two of America's leading retailers — and Chicago-area icons — have announced job cutbacks in light of the current tenuous retail environment.

Sears, Roebuck (Hoffman Estates, Ill.), has announced that it will cut 1500 jobs when it stops selling and installing carpet next month in 560 stores, as it revamps its product mix.

“Installed floorcovering requires a lot of floor space to display, and we think that space can be used more profitably for other businesses,” said Sears spokesperson Peggy Palter. Sears will continue to sell rugs.

Sears'carpet sales have lagged in recent years with the expansion of flooring product offerings of the big home stores like Home Depot and Lowe's.

And Marshall Field's will cut 200 full-time employees who unload merchandise and stock shelves. The cuts represent less than 1 percent of Field's workforce and are falling only on the 16 Field's stores with the highest sales volumes, including its two flagship stores, State Street and Water Tower Place in Chicago.

Executives of Target Corp. (Minneapolis), Field's parent company, said they expected a “decline in the low teens” for their department store holdings in December. Final December results will be posted later this week. In 2000, the latest year available, Field's pre-tax profit declined 36 percent.

“This has certainly been a difficult year for department stores in general and Marshall Field's,” said Target spokeswoman Carolyn Brookter. “We're trying to evaluate what makes the most sense, what changes we can make to be more efficient.”

The company said cutting back on full-time logistics positions is intended to give Field's more flexibility to schedule workers when they are needed, “and should be invisible to shoppers.”

Marshall Field's is now the sole brand in the 64-unit department store division of Target Corp. The company, which also includes Target and Mervyn's stores, had previously been named Dayton Hudson, and all the Dayton's and Hudson's stores have been converted to Marshall Field's stores.