Century-old department store Nordstrom has agreed to be acquired and taken private by Nordstrom family members and a Mexican retail group in a $6.25 billion deal.

NEW YORK Nordstrom Inc. on Tuesday reported a larger-than-expected loss and a 53% drop in sales for its fiscal second quarter, during which the pandemic forced the upscale department store chain to temporarily close its stores. The Seattle-based retailer's business was also hurt by the shift of its anniversary sales from the fiscal second quarter that ended Aug. 1 to the third quarter. Nordstrom's stores have now reopened but stores were temporarily closed during half of the fiscal second quarter. During the fiscal first quarter, Nordstrom cut inventory by more than 25% to reduce markdowns. As a result, profit margins on merchandise in the second quarter improved and exceeded the company's expectations.

NEW YORK Upscale department store retailer Nordstrom reported Thursday that its sales plunged nearly 40% in its fiscal first quarter when the pandemic forced a temporary shutdown of its stores. Nordstrom announced earlier this month that it was closing 16 of its 116 full-scale department stores. Before the pandemic, many department stores were weakened because of a consumer shift to spending online. The department store operator posted revenue of $2.03 billion in the period, also missing Street forecasts. During the year-ago period, Nordstrom had sales of $3.35 billion.