Red Zale's in the Sunset

Zale Corp. (Dallas) has said that it will reduce by half its new-store program for its next fiscal year. The operator of 2300 Zale's Jewelers, Gordon's Jewelers and Bailey Banks & Biddle Fine Jewelers stores had planned for 80 new stores in 2002. The reduction to 40 is to cut two-year capital spending by as much as 38 percent in the face of slower sales. The company, the nation's largest specialty jewelry retailer, had announced about a week ago that profits had dropped 15 percent drop for the quarter ending Jan. 31, 2001, and that same-store sales had fallen 2.3 percent. At the time, it warned that earnings for the next six months would fall sharply from a year ago. It did not say which of its nameplate would bear the brunt of the downsized expansion plans.