Neiman Marcus, Inc. saw net sales for fiscal December declined 26.4% to $532 million from $723 million for the year-ago month. Comparable store revenues dropped 27.5% to $524 million from $723 million last year.     


In the five-week December period, comparable revenues in the Specialty Retail Stores segment, which includes Neiman Marcus Stores and Bergdorf Goodman, decreased 31.2%. The company experienced weakness across all geographies and merchandise categories in the Specialty Retail Stores segment.


Comparable revenues at Neiman Marcus Direct in the five-week December period decreased 9.2%. The merchandise categories in the Direct Marketing segment that performed the strongest included children’s and beauty.


Due to the shift of the company's fiscal year 2009 retail reporting periods (following the company's 53rd week fiscal year 2008), the reporting periods for the current fiscal year do not directly align with the periods in the prior fiscal year. This shift had a positive impact on the company's November 2008 comparable revenue results and a negative impact on its December 2008 comparable revenue results. comparable revenues for the nine week period ended January 3, 2009 decreased 22.3%.