St Louis, MO, June 26--May Department Stores Co. said Wednesday it laid off about 1,500 workers in sales management and support positions. That's about 1.3 percent of its overall work force.
"We're adjusting the work force to keep expenses in line with sales," said Sharon Bateman, vice president of corporate communications for May. Employees were told of the layoffs on Tuesday.
The St. Louis-based company said last month that its first-quarter earnings rose $2 million, but reported a 7.2 percent decline in sales.
Bateman said the company has 116,000 workers. She said the cutbacks would affect some employees in sales support jobs, like stockroom work and housekeeping, as well as some divisional and area sales managers.
The company runs 447 department stores, including Lord & Taylor, Filene's and Famous-Barr. A few positions are expected to be trimmed at many of the stores, but the cuts will not affect the number of sales associates.
May reported that first-quarter sales fell to $2.87 billion, from $3.10 billion a year ago. Sales at stores open at least a year were down 8.8 percent.
In addition to its department stores run under 11 different names, the company has 184 David's Bridal stores, 237 After Hours Formalwear stores, and 10 Priscilla of Boston stores. May operates in 45 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
