The company has been buffeted by forces beyond its control, including declining department store sales, the rise of fast-fashion chains, the shift to online retailing, and greater price consciousness among consumers.
In the years since 2004, when Kmart bought Sears, another venerable but declining department-store brand, for eleven billion dollars, retail jobs have continued to vanish, and department stores in particular are languishing, perhaps unto death.
And a decline at department stores.
Consumer spending also increased in November, led by higher utility costs, while incomes recovered from the previous month's decline, the department said.
Consumer spending rose in November, led by higher utility costs, while incomes recovered from the previous month's decline, the department said.
Henry J. Stern, the parks commissioner, said that after support for the plan declined, his department put off the plan indefinitely.
The city's official unemployment rate rose to 8.7 percent in August from 8.6 percent in July, as the total number of jobs declined, the department reported.
A State Department spokesman in Washington declined comment; department officials have contended that Mr. Bowen's office does not have jurisdiction over their operations after Oct. 1.
Business inventories fell in December to the lowest level in two years, reflecting declines at department stores and other retailers, factories and wholesalers, the Commerce Department reported.
Thus began a summerlong decline in the department's stature and morale.
The overall decline in the department's Producer Price Index was bigger than the 1.8percentt drop that analysts had expected.
