• February 7, 2008

While most retailers won't post their January same-store sales until today, Macy's got the expected bad news rolling a day early.

The company says its same-store sales fell 7.1% in January, worse than the 4 to 6% decline it had forecast. And it announced a sweeping reorganization, which will eliminate some 2,600 jobs and strengthen local market focus.

"Improving sales and earnings performance requires innovation in engaging our customer more effectively in every store, as well as reducing total costs," the company says in its release. "We believe the right answer is to reallocate our resources to place more emphasis and talent at the local market level to differentiate Macy's stores, serve customers and drive business."

--Sarah Mahoney