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Kmart to Shut More Stores, Cut Jobs
1 hour, 30 minutes ago Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Kmart Corp. on Tuesday told employees about the latest round of store closings and job cuts, which many analysts and sources expect to be the largest store shuttering since the retailer declared bankruptcy a year ago.
"Kmart this morning began the process of notifying affected associates about its plan to close additional stores" and a distribution operation, spokesman Jack Ferry said. He declined to give details about the closings until employees had been informed.
On Tuesday, the Detroit Free Press said the retailer would close about 330 stores and slash more than 25,000 jobs. Wall Street analysts have said for weeks that Troy, Michigan-based Kmart was likely to close more than 300 stores.
The retailer now operates more than 1,800 stores after closing 283 in 2002.
Kmart filed for bankruptcy a year ago after struggling to boost sales in a discount sector dominated by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. .
In the fiscal third quarter ended Oct. 30, Kmart reported a loss of $383 million, or 76 cents a share, compared with a loss of $249 million, or 50 cents a share, in the 2001 third quarter.
Kmart also reported a loss of $40 million in November on sales of $2.47 billion.
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