Legal, finance, corporate-affairs and human-resources jobs will be cut, David Tovar, a spokesman, said by telephone today. The affected employees, about 2.5 percent of the 12,000 workers in the home office, were notified this morning, he said.

"This was a difficult decision but I believe that if we ask our operations to be leaner and more customer-focused, we must ask the same of our support teams at the home office," Chief Executive Officer Mike Duke told employees in a memo.

About 10,000 demonstration employees, most part-time, will lose their jobs when Shopper Events takes over sampling, Sam's Club Chief Executive Officer Brian Cornell told employees today in a memo. The company also is cutting about 1,200 membership recruiting jobs, or about two in each of the club's U.S. stores.

Sam's Club is working with Shopper Events to develop in-store demonstrations, such as food sampling, currently performed by Sam's employees, Cornell said. The effort is aimed at improving demonstrations in the areas of food and beverages, personal wellness and electronics, according to the memo.

A Saks spokeswoman on Wednesday said the transition would be effective as of Jan. 31. The affected Saks workers, who are eligible for severance benefits, can apply for openings in other departments of the Manhattan store, the luxury retailer said.

Saks expects that "a number of the affected associates" will be asked to interview for jobs with the outside vendors.

The spokeswoman said that currently about 70 percent of workers in the cosmetics and fragrance departments are employed by outside vendors.

Versace expects a loss this year and has a "flat" outlook for 2010, it said in a statement today. The company will eliminate about 350 positions worldwide from a total of 1,360.

"Trading conditions in the wake of the global financial crisis have been severe," Chief Executive Officer Gian Giacomo Ferraris said in the statement. "No organization can allow a situation like this to continue."

More layoffs hit Condé Nast Oct. 16, this time at Vanity Fair and W, the oversized luxury fashion book. Vanity Fair lost a handful from the business side while W cut about seven people in sales and marketing.

The latest round of job cuts will take place primarily in AnnTaylor's corporate and divisional home offices, affecting about 10 percent of that group's staff and about 1 percent of the whole company.

The original plan, laid out in January 2008, called for cutting 13 percent of AnnTaylor staff at headquarters and closing 117 stores.

Krill said on Thursday the company now plans to close an additional 30 stores, but aims to relocate those stores' best workers to other stores. Any job losses resulting from store closures are not included in the 160, Krill said.

She reiterated the company's plan to open 14 new stores this year.

The cuts are part of the New York-based company's plan to save $800 million over the rest of 2009.

American Express plans to take an after-tax charge of $117 million to $163 million in the second quarter, largely associated with the job cuts. It said the cuts will occur across a variety of businesses, saving $175 million.

The company also plans to cut spending by $500 million on marketing and business development and $125 million on consulting and other services, travel and overhead.

The cuts amount to 5 percent of Nike's workforce of 35,000, the company said in an e-mailed statement today. About 500 positions will be eliminated at its Beaverton, Oregon, headquarters. Employees will be notified in the coming weeks.

The company said in February that it may eliminate as many as 1,400 jobs, or 4 percent of staff, to trim labor, manufacturing and sales costs. Nike aims to cut spending by $200 million, starting in the first quarter of the fiscal year that starts in June, Chief Financial Officer Don Blair said last month. Sales fell 2 percent in the quarter ended Feb. 28, hurt by the stronger U.S. dollar.

It is the second round of layoffs this year for the purveyor of pricey casual clothing for young people. In January, the company terminated about 50 employees at its New Albany headquarters, and confirmed that it would not fill dozens of open positions.

"The company is committed to improving its efficiency. As a result, it has implemented significant initiatives at its home office where it is in the process of eliminating approximately 170 positions," chief legal counsel David Cupps said, reading from a prepared statement.

Elsewhere, L.L. Bean Inc. yesterday notified employees it will lay off as many as 240 workers in Maine because of lagging sales. The Freeport-based outfitter told employees that previously announced retirement incentives did not draw enough volunteers to quit, so the company has to resort to layoffs, according to a letter from chief executive Chris McCormick obtained by the Associated Press.

Even if the numbers are simply less negative than expected -- down 20.7% from a year earlier for department stores, according to Thomson Reuters estimates -- retail investors will be encouraged. So will everyone else, because an economic recovery depends in large part on domestic consumption.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters are predicting a 0.8% gain across all categories, which would mark the second straight month of positive "comps," a measurement of sales at stores open for at least a year.

a retail consultancy, said he thinks the sector is in the process of recovering, but "whatever it is we are recovering to will be a 'new normal.'" He adds: "People who have gone through a near-drowning experience are careful about where they swim."

Hard times call for hard decisions, but Swarovski executive board member Markus Langes-Swarovski said Thursday the latest wave of cuts at the crystal giant's main production facility in Wattens, Austria, was necessary to safeguard the future of the business. "From a business perspective, to ignore the present general conditions would be irresponsible," Langes-Swarovski said. "After careful examination we have therefore decided on a plan of action for the [lasting] security of our market leadership and for the business location in Wattens."

Swarovski on Wednesday revealed plans to trim 600 more positions at the site this year — to add to the 150 cuts signaled in February and more than 750 job losses in 2008 — reducing the Wattens workforce to 5,000. Around 500 more heads will go next year as the company relocates certain manual finishing techniques to "more cost-efficient business locations," namely in Eastern Europe.

Langes-Swarovski said Thursday it was too early to specify where, but underlined these would be "near shore," or close to Wattens. Swarovski, which counts two-thirds of its production in the euro zone, has plants in eight other countries, including the Czech Republic, and employs 23,900 people worldwide.

"They were across the board," said Dawn Brown, vice president of publicity for Barneys. The retailer has about 2,400 employees. The cuts were effective Monday. "Initially, we elected to cut other expenses to save jobs as long as possible and now the continued economic downturn has made layoffs necessary," Brown explained. The budget cuts have been made in every division and were started last year and continued into this year, she noted.

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Barneys is also grappling with other issues, including negotiating with a handful of factors over millions in delayed payments, though a resolution is expected soon, according to Barneys parent company, the Dubai-based Istithmar. Barneys has been operating without a chief executive since July. As the search continues, Barneys is operated by a committee of executive vice presidents and senior vice presidents, with some support from the board, which includes former ceo Howard Socol. Istithmar, an equity firm involved in buying and selling companies, will eventually try to sell Barneys to recoup its investment, but no sale is imminent. Istithmar bought Barneys for over $900 million from Jones Apparel Group Inc. in September 2007, and no sufficient offer has surfaced.