Macy's Reports First Quarter Results

Macy's Inc. (Cincinnati) reported sales for the first quarter of 2009 totaled $5.19 billion, down 9.5 percent from total sales in the first 13 weeks of 2008. On a same-store basis, Macy's sales declined 9 percent.

Online sales at macys.com and bloomingdales.com were up 16.2 percent in the first quarter of 2009 and positively affected the company's first quarter 2009 same-store sales by 0.5 percentage points. During the quarter, the company opened one new Macy's store in the Phoenix market.

“We continue to successfully navigate this very difficult economic environment,” says Terry Lundgren, Macy's chairman, president and ceo. “Our first quarter sales were consistent with our initial expectations, while earnings and cash flow performance were better than expected.

Lundgren added that Macy’s completed the unification of our organizational structure and the nationwide rollout of its My Macy's localization initiative. “We expect to see an improvement in sales trend from My Macy's beginning in the fourth quarter of 2009 and especially in spring 2010,” he says.