Jan. 25--With a disappointing holiday season behind them, recession-battered retailers are looking for ways to rebound or at least hold their own in the new year.

For November and December, national retail sales fell 2.8 percent to $447.5 billion, compared to $460.2 billion a year ago, according to the National Retail Federation, a Washington-based trade group.

Some casualties already have surfaced as the industry grapples with flagging sales born of a bad economy. On Friday, Jan. 16, electronics retailer Circuit City, which has stores in Beavercreek and Miami Twp., said it would ask for permission from the U.S. bankruptcy court to liquidate its 567 stores.

Also this month, The Bon-Ton Stores Inc., parent of Elder-Beerman Stores Corp., said total sales for the five weeks ended Jan. 3 fell 5.6 percent while comparable-store sales declined 5.8 percent. York, Pa.-based Bon-Ton also said it plans to close the Elder-Beerman store in Hamilton in mid-March before the lease expires.

Ann Taylor LOFT plans to close its Dayton Mall store -- part of a companywide restructuring -- by the end of January. Cincinnati-based department store chain Macy's Inc. earlier this month said it plans to close 11 stores, none of them in Ohio.

But Jeff Green, a Mill Valley, Calif., retailing consultant, said he doesn't view all store closures as a bad thing, particularly in Macy's case.

"Healthy chains open and close stores," he said. "That's a healthy chain."

Aside from the pending liquidation of Circuit City and a bankruptcy reorganization by Fresno, Calif.-based retailer Gottschalks Inc., Green said he looks for other industry players to slide into bankruptcy reorganization in the coming weeks.

And declining sales only tell part of the story, since retailers have not reported their earnings, which likely were hurt by holiday-season price cutting, he said.

Despite the challenges, analysts say retailers can regain ground with the right strategy.

Merchants need to keep inventory levels low and larger retailers should consider cost-cutting steps like cutting employees at their home office, Green said.

Discounts, for example, can help when used judiciously. Retailers should strike a balance -- offering discounts, but making sure they don't build their entire strategy around cutting prices, said Irene Dickey, a marketing lecturer at the University of Dayton.

The better move, she said, is for merchants to focus on using customer data to provide targeted discounts that appeal to an individual shopper's tastes or needs. If, for example, data collected through a loyalty program indicates that a person owns a dog, send them a special offer on dog food to get them in the door.

"Get away from transactions and go for relationships," she said.

Mary Ellen Lee, owner of Centerville-based Pieces of Style, moved aggressively last year to generate more business for her boutique. In March, she relocated to a high profile location at 18-B W. Franklin St. She also has added more moderately priced items and worked harder at marketing the store, she said.

Thanks to all these moves, she said, holiday sales essentially stayed flat for the store, which carries ladies handbags, clothing, jewelry and accessories.

"You just have to stay one step ahead of the market," she said. "It's a matter of survival. You have to do what you have to do."

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