This year’s honorees include a Midwest retailer and two multi-store independents, one in New York and the other in New England.
Neiman Marcus Eliminates 225 Jobs
As it streamlines operations, the retailer also will evaluate its Last Call off-price division.

Dallas--Another department store has made a round of job cuts as it struggles with lagging sales.
Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus said it cut about 225 positions, effective Thursday, across all brands and operating divisions.
The company said the eliminations came as a result of “streamlining (its) operations to complement (its) strategic focus.”
“To better align our operations and team with our business strategy, we regularly evaluate all aspects of our business to determine when and where changes make the most sense for our customers and our company,” a Neiman Marcus spokesperson said.
The company said affected employees have been offered severance packages and will be considered for other Neiman Marcus Group job openings.
Additionally, the retailer also said it is evaluating Last Call, its off-price outlet stores, to make sure that it has the right mix of brick-and-mortar and online business. The company has closed three of the stores in the past few months.
Neiman Marcus not only is struggling with sales but also is under a nearly $5 billion debt burden.
The retailer has been in the same boat as a lot of the large department stores recently, undergoing rounds of layoffs, including cutting nearly 100 workers last August as it restructured its information technology department.
The company also had plans to go public, filing an IPO in August 2015, which was postponed for a few months amid market volatility and, finally, withdrawn in January.
Then, in June, the retailer said its search for a buyer had come to a halt as conversations with the Hudson’s Bay Company, which owns rival Saks Fifth Avenue, stalled.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated on July 28, 2017, to reflect that Neiman Marcus is $5 billion in debt, not $5 million, as was previously stated.
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