Zale to close 60 underperforming stores

Zale Corp. plans to close 60 stores in the next 90 days, National Jeweler has confirmed.

Zale Chief Administrative Officer Rodney Carter didn’t identify the stores, but said the Irving, Texas-based jeweler would be closing unprofitable Zales, Gordon’s Jewelers and Piercing Pagoda stores and “several dozen more” stores later this year.

Zale Vice President and Treasurer David Sternblitz told National Jeweler that the company is not planning on exiting any geographic markets and that “there is the potential that the people impacted get placed at other stores or other brands.”

Zale is one of many large retail chains to announce store closings following a dismal holiday shopping season.

In its earnings call last week, Zale reported same-store sales fell 9 percent in November and December, and total revenues for the two-month period were down 10.1 percent, from $804 million in 2006 to $723 million in 2007.

Speaking at the Cowen and Co. Annual Consumer Conference in New York, Carter also said Zale would cut capital spending from $100 million to $85 million.

Other retail stores to announce closings following weak holiday sales include home furnishings retailer Ethan Allen Interiors Inc., which is closing 12 stores; Liz Claiborne Inc., which is closing its 54-store Sigrid Olsen chain; and Macy’s Inc., which announced three days after Christmas that it was closing nine additional stores, various news sources have reported.