This is not good: Neiman Marcus is shortening its hours in twenty of its stores, to accommodate newer, slower traffic patterns.
For example, the store at the Shops at Willow Bend in Plano, Tex., a mall that has struggled with poor traffic since it opened in 2001, will close one hour earlier at 8 p.m. from Monday to Friday. The Houston Galleria store, which has been one of the luxury chain's best performers, will open one hour later on Sundays — at 1 p.m. instead of noon.
At the Mall at Short Hills, N.J., Neiman's will close an hour earlier, at 8 p.m. Monday to Friday, but remain open an extra hour until 9 p.m. on Saturday.
No changes will be made to marquee units, including the downtown Dallas flagship, NorthPark Center in Dallas and the Beverly Hills store on Wilshire Boulevard.
The company is trying to pass the change off as no big deal, but it is a big deal. Delaying store openings until 1:00 pm on Sundays is a pretty big change. Many consumers find it irritating enough that stores in the South don't open until noon on Sunday. Pushing it back another hour won't help.
Neiman's is really struggling during the recession, with sales declines of over 20% each month. The shortened hours are following other measures such as layoffs, salary cuts and staff reassignments. The new hours will go into effect on July 5.
