RETAILING

Neiman Marcus to Close Subsidiary Stores: The company said it will shut its 39-store Pastille retail chain and close as many as 50 of its Contempo Casuals chain’s 288 stores. The move will eliminate up to 1,000 of the 3,800 jobs in the two chains and result in a pretax charge of $48.4 million, or 74 cents a share after tax, in the third quarter ended April 30. Neiman Marcus’ 65%-owner, Harcourt General Inc., said it too would take a $48.4-million pretax charge, equal to 35 cents a share after tax, in its fiscal third quarter ending July 31. The cutbacks at Contempo will include the closing of its Hong Kong buying office and greater use of outside sources for merchandise buying. Pastille, with stores in 15 states, was a unit of Contempo and was seen as a national chain if it proved successful.