Federated Department Stores, Inc. reported total sales of $1.802 billion for the four weeks ended March 3, essentially flat compared to total sales of $1.800 billion in the same period last year. On a same-store basis, Federated's sales for February were up 1.2 percent. This compares with the company's guidance for a same-store sales increase of 2 percent to 3 percent in February.
“Sales in February were impacted by a series of snow and ice storms in the eastern half of the U.S., including those during the important selling days immediately preceding Valentine's Day. The geographic region that was most affected by adverse weather was the Upper Midwest,” said Terry J. Lundgren, Federated's chairman, president and chief executive officer. “Aside from the weather, we were pleased with performance of both the new and legacy Macy's stores.”
Federated expects same-store sales in both March and April to increase by 2.5 percent to 4 percent.
Beginning in February and now ongoing, Federated's same-store sales include former May Company locations, as well as legacy Macy's and Bloomingdale's stores, that have been open for more than one full fiscal year.
Federated, with corporate offices in Cincinnati and New York, is one of the nation's premier retailers, with fiscal 2006 sales of $27 billion. Federated operates more than 850 department stores in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico under the names of Macy's and Bloomingdale's. The company also operates macys.com, bloomingdales.com and Bloomingdale's By Mail.
