During its Q1, which ended April 30, net earnings were $41 million compared to $76 million last year. Year-over-year same-store sales fell 5.1%. "This result was disappointing and below our planned expectation," said Thomas Fingleton, the company's EVP and CFO, during a conference call.

Men's and women's apparel were cited as the weakest sales categories; the company also took markdowns to keep inventories current. Net sales for the quarter were nearly $3.4 billion, up 13.7% from the same period last year.

May opened one department store in its Q1, a Robinsons-May in El Centro, CA. Seven more are planned for the year, three Foley's, two Kauffman's, another Robinsons-May and a Hecht's. The company currently operates 490 department stores under those chains, as well as Famous-Barr, Filene's, Lord & Taylor, L.S. Ayres, Marshall Field's, Meier & Frank, Strawbridge's and the Jones Store. The retailer closed two Lord & Taylors in its Q1 and plan five more closures by year-end, to complete a 2003 plan to divest 32 of those units.