Macy's said Thursday it is shuttering 11 stores in nine states, including locations in Colorado Springs and the Westminster Mall, in one of the first casualties of the dismal holiday shopping season.

The Macy's store in Westminster, opened in 1986, and the 24-year-old store at The Citadel in Colorado Springs will hold clearance sales starting next week. The Westminster store employs 110 workers, and the Colorado Springs location 105.

The announcement comes at a time when department stores have been particularly hard hit as consumers cut back amid the buckling economy, trading down to discount stores or only buying items on sale. Macy's said sales at stores open at least a year slid 5 percent in December, and the company cut its quarterly profit and sales forecasts because of steep markdowns during the holiday season.

"These closings are part of our normal-course process to prune underperforming locations each year in order to maintain a healthy portfolio of stores," said Terry Lundgren, chairman and CEO of Macy's, in a statement.

Most shoppers at the Westminster Mall on Thursday agreed with Lundgren's assessment that the location is "underperforming," although they expressed sadness that one of the mall's last marquee tenants is leaving.

"The rest of the mall has died, and it's really had a domino effect" on store closures, said Roxana Quiros, a resident of unincorporated Adams County, who was shopping with her mom, Dorothy.

The 1.5 million-square-foot mall, built in 1977, in recent years has lost anchor tenants Mervyns and Montgomery Ward as well as its multiplex cinema. Total taxable sales have been falling since FlatIron Crossing opened in Broomfield in 2000. Last year, the mall reported $3 million in sales tax revenue, down from $9 million in its peak year of 1999, according to figures from Westminster.

The mall's ownership, Kansas City-based MD, and the city are planning to revamp the location into a mixed-use commercial, retail and residential development. Westminster hopes to pick a developer and create an economic development plan for the new center within the next several months, said Brent McFall, Westminster city manager.

Westminster has discussed with Macy's its plans to overhaul the center, and the department store has indicated it would consider reopening in the new development in several years, McFall said.

"Macy's didn't feel like it could continue to justify losing money on that store," he said. "It's not good news, and we would've much rather that they stayed, but at least the door is left open that they might return."

Macy's has another location in north Westminster at The Orchard shopping center, which opened last year, as well as one nearby at FlatIron Crossing.

The Westminster Mall's vacancy rate slid below 50 percent after the holidays, said mall manager Kenton Anderson, compared with around 20 percent in 2006. The mall recently shifted to signing only yearlong leases to prepare for the redevelopment, a move that excludes national chain stores because they generally prefer longer terms. Anderson expects that the mall's vacancy rate will only plummet further as stores tally the financial damage from the holiday season.

About 160,000 stores closed in 2008 and 200,000 more could shutter this year, according to Burt P. Flickinger, managing director of consulting firm Strategic Resource Group.

"With a tough Christmas, there are a number of merchants who won't make it into the summer," Anderson said.