High-end department stores post sales declines

New York City The recession continued to take a heavy toll on sales at higher-end department store retailers in April, with Saks reporting a 32% drop in same-store sales, more than analysts expected.

For the four weeks ended May 2, Saks’ total sales declined 31.3% to $238.7 million from $347.5 million.

Year-to-date, Saks said total sales declined 27% to $615.1 million, and same-store sales declined 27.6%.

Sales in April were hurt by the shift of a spring season clearance event in May this year from April last year.

Excluding this shift, same-store sales for both April and the fiscal first quarter would have decreased by about 25%. The shift will lift sales in the second fiscal quarter, the company said.

Saks Fifth Avenue stores were weak across all merchandise categories, but Saks Direct and OFF 5TH showed relative strength in April.

Neiman Marcus reported a 24.6% decrease in April same-store sales at its namesake stores and at Bergdorf Goodman in New York. Weakness was across the board in all merchandise categories and geographic regions, the company said Thursday.

April marked the end of Neiman Marcus’ fiscal third quarter. Overall, same-store sales fell 25.1% from a year ago.

Nordstrom said Thursday that its same-store sales fell 10.8% in April; the decline was worse than expected.