Nation in brief: Macy’s to close nine stores

Macy’s Inc. will close nine stores that employ a total of about 900 people, the retailer said Friday.

“While the decision to close stores is difficult, it is necessary that we do so selectively in locations with declining sales and where we have been unable to identify sufficient growth opportunities,” said Terry Lundgren, Macy’s chairman and CEO.

In Ohio, Macy’s is closing stores in Akron, Canton and North Randall. It is closing a store in Indianapolis, in Oklahoma City and in Lake Charles, La. The remaining three stores are in Dallas, Houston and Riverdale, Utah.

Macy’s has faced disappointing sales and resistance from shoppers in some markets where the Macy’s name replaced local favorites it absorbed as part of its acquisition of May department stores. The company last month swung to a profit of $33 million in the third quarter in contrast to a slim loss the prior year.

The company has been undergoing realignment and this year opened 10 stores and one furniture gallery. Macy’s said Friday it expects to open five stores in 2008 and six to eight in 2009.

Macy’s operates more than 850 department stores in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico under the names Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s.

Macy’s shares rose 26 cents to $25.30 Friday afternoon.

– Associated Press

SEATTLE

Microsoft defends business practices

States pressing for continued scrutiny of Microsoft Corp.’s business practices failed to support their argument with evidence, the software maker said in a court filing Friday.

Microsoft, which was found to be using its operating system dominance to quash other types of competing software, has operated since 2002 under the terms of an antitrust settlement struck with the federal government and 17 U.S. states.

Most of the consent decree, which said Microsoft must help rivals build software that runs smoothly with Windows, was set to expire in November.

But in October, after requests from several states to add five years to federal oversight of the software company, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly pushed the expiration date to Jan. 31, 2008, to allow time to consider arguments made by both sides.

On Dec. 10, after a first round of court filings, the judge asked the states to give “specific factual information and legal argument” to support their claim that allowing most of the consent decree to expire would interfere with ongoing enforcement of the remaining portion.

In its filing Friday, Microsoft said the states failed to back up that claim.

— Associated Press