Same Store

Macy's Inc., the second-largest U.S. department store company, is an "attractive" target for a leveraged buyout and may fetch $50 to $52 a share, a Goldman, Sachs & Co. analyst said yesterday. Macy's cash flow and "valuable" real estate, as well as the company's potential to cut costs and take on additional debt make it a possible takeover candidate, New York-based Adrianne Shapira wrote in a note to investors. Macy's converted more than 400 former May Department Store Co. locations to its namesake chain in September, about a year after buying the rival for $11 billion.

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. announced its most profitable quarter since 1995 yesterday, breaking into the black for the year, and said the strong earnings would give the company room for more rapid growth in 1997.Beating analysts' expectations, the Hampstead-based menswear retailer posted earnings of $500,000, or 7 cents a share, for the quarter ended Feb. 1 compared with a loss of $5 million, or 73 cents a share, for the same period the year before.The company said it plans to add eight to 12 stores in existing markets.

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. broke monthly sales records in December as it continued reversing a sales slump from earlier last year, the retailer said yesterday. The Hampstead-based men's specialty chain reported total sales of $30.4 million -- the highest ever in a single month. Sales at stores open at least a year -- a key indicator of financial health -- jumped 9 percent, one of the biggest increases on a month-over-month basis in the past two years. "It's one of the best percentage increases we've ever had," said Robert N. Wildrick, chief executive officer.

Sales rose only modestly at the nation's chain stores in May, with retailers blaming cool, rainy weather in the latter part of the month. Analysts said the lackluster performance could be evidence that consumers have begun pulling back in response to higher interest rates. A tally of about 70 national retailers showed sales up by an average 4.6 percent at stores open at least a year, according to the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi's retail sales index. Sales gains since the start of the year had been averaging 5.4 percent, fueled by rising wages and low unemployment, said Michael Niemira, a Bank of Tokyo vice president.

ST. LOUIS - May Department Stores Co., which is being acquired by Federated Department Stores Inc., said yesterday that its first-quarter profit fell 46 percent, hurt by rising costs and markdowns on slower-selling apparel. Net income declined to $41 million, or 13 cents a share, from $76 million, or 24 cents, a year earlier, May said. Sales in the quarter ended April 30 climbed 13.7 percent to $3.37 billion, helped by its July purchase of the Marshall Field's chain. Payroll and advertising costs rose faster than sales at May, which also owns Kaufmann's, Hecht's and Lord & Taylor.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Internet commerce as a proportion of total retail sales rose in the final three months of 2002 as consumers took advantage of free shipping and discounts to buy holiday merchandise. Online retail purchases totaled $14.3 billion, or 1.6 percent of all sales, during October-December, the Commerce Department said. That was up from 1.3 percent in the third quarter and represents the largest share of all sales since the survey began in 1999. Free shipping, discounting and ease of ordering online appealed to consumers, whose total spending accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy, economists said.

The first weekend of holiday shopping brought consumers out in droves, driving sales above expectations for some retailers and giving the biggest chunk of business to discounters and stores pushing promotions.But unseasonably warm weather dampened sales of some cold-weather goods and kept many shoppers out of the malls altogether, keeping sales even with last year's, according to one sampling of 2,500 stores in 48 regional malls nationwide."People are very optimistic about this season, and when all is said and done, it will come in right on target," said John Konarski, a vice president of the International Council of Shopping Centers.

The day after Thanksgiving is a special time for Michelle Robinson. Growing up in Atlanta, she and her mother would head to Macy's downtown to browse, shop and eat at the department store's cellar-level market. So, she and her sister-in-law, Jessica Robinson, arrived early yesterday at the Macy's in Towson Town Center expecting to snag some great deals. Though fans of department stores, the women left disappointed. "Macy's is known for great sales," said Michelle Robinson, 36, of Westminster, who managed to pick up a jacket for her husband but nothing else.

Squeezed by competition for middle America's dollars from discounters, May Department Stores Co. said yesterday that it will close 32 unprofitable Lord & Taylor department stores, including one at White Marsh Mall, to focus on locations where it can compete as an upscale retailer. The closing of the Northeastern Baltimore County store marks the second time Lord & Taylor has bailed out of a Baltimore-area mall since it entered the local market in 1998. Its two remaining area stores are in Annapolis and Columbia.

In yesterday's Business section, an article about Merry-Go-Round Enterprises Inc. incorrectly reported the decrease in March sales for stores operating for at least one year. The actual drop was 21 percent.The Sun regrets the errors.Hampered by its inability to keep its shelves stocked, Merry-Go-Round Enterprises Inc. said yesterday that a crucial measure of sales dropped by 23 percent last month.Separately, the Joppa-based clothing chain reported that it lost $6.6 million during the fourth quarter, which ended Jan. 29, mostly because of $6.9 million in costs related to its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.