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  Macyäó»s Home at South Coast Plaza. Photo courtesy of Macyäó»s.

I know a lot of you sell to Macy’s, so I read a transcript of the company’s conference call and picked out some interesting tidbits. Any quotes are from Karen Hoguet, Chief Financial Officer. The transcript is from Seeking Alpha. They rock. They provide transcripts for free.

Earnings

Came in on high end of estimates. But Macy’s was not happy with sales trends in the quarter.

Bright spots

• Better product and more differentiated product is selling well.










• Business is improving in May stores converted to Macy’s.
• Home goods strong.
• Local assortments have improved.
• New advertising campaign on track.
• Sleepwear, fragrances, handbags and watches doing well – all important in fourth quarter.
• Bloomingdale’s had a good third quarter.
• Sales in California were “fine.”

Mens

• Did “okay”
• Basics slow
• Collections good

Women’s

• “Most concerning trend.”
• Not enough in fashion offering that is compelling.
• Fashion sweaters, jackets and outerwear strong.
• Basics not good.

Q4 guidance

• Lowered sales expectation to $8.7 billion to $8.9 billion.
• Previous forecast was $8.8 billion to $9 billion.
• Same-store sales will be down 2 percent to up 1 percent.

Possible store closings

Hoguet was asked if there would be store closings coming up, and she declined to comment.

Analysts were skeptical because store integration costs have jumped dramatically and they think there might be some money set aside to close additional stores.