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Federated Department Stores, the parent company of the popular Macys and Bloomingdales department stores, announced Sept. 20 that it will cut 290 IT jobs and consolidated data centers in two Midwestern cities.
Federated, which is based in Cincinnati, Ohio, will begin cutting staff and consolidating the two centers in January 2007, and finish by June, according to a statement from the company.
Federated will close its St. Louis, Mo., data center and cut the 195 jobs currently located there.
The company will also cut 95 jobs at its Lorain, Ohio, facility. Most of the computer operations and help desk portions of that data center will close.
The company, however, will keep its systems development group and its 125 employees at the Lorain facility.
The office will now function as the programming center, the company said. A small IT staff will also remain at the facility, according to the statement.
In its statement, Federated said that all non-management employees, if they chose to transfer, will have “guaranteed positions” at its system group facility in Duluth, Ga.
“All affected employees will be encouraged to apply for open positions in other Federated retail and support divisions,” the company said in its statement.
“Those who work until a scheduled release date and then leave the company will be provided with severance and outplacement assistance.”
The St. Louis and Lorain data centers were acquired by Federated after it purchased the May Department Stores Company in August 2005.
The company now operates about 850 department stores in the United States and elsewhere.