Tansky and his team on Wednesday projected a proactive stance and detailed a recovery plan, citing: -- Salary and staff cuts at stores and headquarters, including centralizing marketing and fashion office functions to further reduce payroll and create a consistent and focused voice to consumers. Previously, there were separate marketing teams at Neiman's, Bergdorf Goodman and NM Direct. Overall, NMG is operating with 16 percent fewer associates than a year ago.

-- Reducing inventories, with receipts down 25 percent for fall, although they are not expected to be aligned to demand for several seasons, as Neiman's works to flow through fashion products faster than basics.

-- Overall, reducing expenses by $125 million on an annual basis.

-- Creating new types of special events to lure customers. They're often smaller and more intimate, and involve charities and gift card opportunities.

-- Negotiating with developers to possibly postpone store openings, but not this September's opening in The Shops at the Bravern in Bellevue, Wash., a suburb of Seattle. The store will mark Neiman's debut in the Pacific Northwest. "We are scrutinizing all proposed projects with a heightened degree before we commit capital," Tansky said. Stores are planned for Walnut Creek, Calif., and Sarasota, Fla., in fall 2011; San Jose, Calif., in 2012; Princeton, N. J., in 2013, and Oyster Bay, N.Y., where there is no opening date, as the mall there has yet to be built.

-- Trimming store hours at certain locations to better schedule associates for peak traffic hours and away from down times.

Also on Neiman's austerity agenda — bringing prices down via a shift in the merchandising mix toward more midtier pricing, within collections currently carried, without trading down.

"Let me assure you, we are not trading down," Tansky stated. "We are simply rebalancing our assortments to offer our customers more opportunities, more options within a designer collection or a classification. I am pleased to say that most [designers] were very receptive to our plans. We are confident that this process will be a very collaborative effort, though it's not happening overnight." Some initial changes will be evident this fall, but the shift will be much more noticeable for spring 2010.

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.

Barnes, who was executive vice president of merchandising at NM Direct, fills the slot vacated by Brendan Hoffman, who became ceo of Lord & Taylor last October. "This is a pretty seamless process," Barnes said on Friday, noting he had been chief merchant of the division and was unofficially acting as the interim ceo of NM Direct while the company was deciding on the appointment. Barnes said a new chief merchant to succeed him will be determined, though there is no rush to fill the position.

"The Internet is definitely the healthy part of the direct business," Barnes said. "It's driving our business, and it's definitely the part of the business we are concentrating on. Our traffic online is up compared to last year. We are very excited that we continue to reach customers in their homes. Now we are trying to entice them to buy more. We are always making improvements to the Web site. We have different things being tested right now that are working out well. Over the next three or four months you will see a number of improvements in the way it works."

The forecast, to be released Tuesday by consultants Bain & Co., widens the decline that Bain had forecast just five months ago. Last October, it predicted a 7% world-wide sales drop, citing the economic downturn. Bain now expects luxury-goods sales will drop as much as 20% in the first two quarters of this year before stabilizing in the second half.

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The U.S., which accounts for roughly a third of luxury-goods sales, is one of the worst-hit markets. Bain expects U.S. sales of high-end clothing, accessories, tableware, cosmetics and jewelry will drop by 15% this year. That compares to expected sales declines of about 10% in both Europe and Japan.

Apparel is expected to suffer the most, declining 15% globally from a year ago. "What is happening in apparel is that shoppers are more and more looking for value," Ms. D'Arpizio said. "Some are mixing and matching expensive items with cheaper clothing. Others are waiting for markdowns, and looking for high discounts," she added. Sales of jewelry and watches are forecast to fall by 12%, while sales of high-end shoes and other leather goods are expected to fall by 10%.

Stores said that the shift of the Easter holiday, and associated spring break sales, into April and out of March had hurt last month's results and urged investors to look at the two months together. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported a 1.4 percent increase in March comparable-store sales, excluding fuel, and said it expected first-quarter profits to be at the high end of its forecast of 72 to 77 cents a share.

Neiman Marcus Inc. registered a 31.2 percent decrease in same-store sales in its specialty retailing segment, and said the weakness included "all geographies and merchandise catgegories." Specialty stores with increases included Hot Topic, up 7.1 percent as it continues to ride the crest of the craze for DVDs and merchandise related to the film Twilight, and Buckle Inc., which checked in with a 14.7 percent increase for the month.

Macy's Inc. described its 9.2 percent comp slide, which included 17.9 percent growth in online sales, as consistent with its expectations, and Bon-Ton Stores said that its 11.2 percent drop left it with less inventory and fewer markdowns. Dillard's Inc. was down 19 percent in March and comps at Stage Stores Inc. dropped 15 percent.

About 100 sales support positions in stores across the country are being eliminated, and 31 jobs have been cut in a reorganization of marketing, public relations, advertising, creative services and production.

"This is the result of the internal review of our division and corporate processes, identifying efficiencies and ways to reduce operating expenses that has been going on for almost a year," said Ginger Reeder, vice president of corporate communications.

"We have to get the customer to buy [at] full-price," said Ms. Goldberger, Neiman's vice president and divisional merchandise manager for women's designer sportswear. "If you offer the value up front, you won't get this discounting nonsense."

Ms. Goldberger has also cut expenses, shortening her trip to Milan this year and skipping the Paris shows altogether. She didn't attend any runway shows. Instead, she viewed collections on the Internet and read daily trend reports from Ken Downing, the Neiman's women's fashion director who attended. She filled days in Milan with showroom visits to see the clothes close up, place orders and push for changes in some designs. Back-to-back meetings ran from 8:30 a.m. until 7:00 p.m., then she headed back to a hotel to meet with the buying team and review orders.

If something costs a lot of money, Mr. Goldberger this season is looking for visible proof it is special and unique. A $7,000 coat with a burnt-out crocodile pattern was worth the money, she said, because of the novelty of the materials. But she dismissed $500 black leggings as "ridiculously overpriced," believing they would probably wind up on the markdown rack. Buyers in Milan last month viewed Missoni's fall knitwear collection.

In one case, she asked that a hand-painted floral detail on a sweater be eliminated to both lower the price and improve "dry-cleanability," she said. The designer agreed to ship the garment without the paint, which will lower the retail price by 10%. At the showroom for the knitwear label Missoni, Ms. Goldberger was thrilled to hear that the Swarovski crystals that appeared on a dress on the runway would be replaced with plastic facsimiles. The substitution wouldn't change the look of the garment, but would lower its retail price by more than half, and make it weigh less.

Total revenues dropped 19.7 percent to $232 million for the period, compared with $288 million for the four weeks ended Feb. 23, 2008.

In the four-week February period, same-store sales in the Specialty Retail Stores segment, which includes Neiman Marcus Stores and Bergdorf Goodman, decreased 24.2 percent.

The company experienced weakness across all geographies and merchandise categories in the Specialty Retail Stores segment.

Neiman Marcus Inc. said Monday that it will cut an additional 450 jobs this week and that salaried employees are taking a pay cut. The layoffs are companywide "across all divisions and across all levels," said Ginger Reeder, vice president of corporate communications.

As the luxury goods industry suffers a massive slump in sales - many sales clerks at designer stores who were famously haughty and patronizing suddenly have changed their styles. In the boom times, the aloof service was part of the exclusive aura cultivated by some brands, sending a message that only the coolest or richest customers were worthy of a purchase. Now, "that arrogant and snobby attitude of feeling people should be grateful to buy at their temple is a dinosaur mentality that is going extinct," says Milton Pedraza, chief executive of the Luxury Institute, a consumer-research firm. "Now those brands have to be grateful for a customer."

Retailers generally don't want to discuss the shift in service. Bottega Veneta and Paul Stuart declined to comment and Chanel and Fendi did not respond to requests for comment. But some do acknowledge that they've instructed their sales clerks to be less abrupt, spend more time with customers and refrain from being pushy.

At Neiman Marcus, sales associates are being encouraged to be "more patient" with customers. "We have seen that customers are more anxious and there is some concern out there," says Ginger Reeder, a spokeswoman for Neiman Marcus. "So it behooves all of us to remember to be a little more patient."