Up against a brick wall

Four major department stores had the same sad story to tell on Thursday: Shoppers are hitting the malls less often, and looking for bargains when they do.

Macy’s, Kohl’s, Nordstrom and Dillard’s all reported bigger-than-expected sales declines in the first quarter and investors sent their shares down like dead weight.

Macy’s shares plummeted 17 percent, to $24.35, and Kohl’s tanked by 7.8 percent, to $37.16. Nordstrom dropped by 7.6 percent in the regular session, to $46.21, then fell further in after-hours trades, dropping another 5 percent.

Macy’s had the biggest dip in sales, with samestore revenues declining by 5.2 percent in the quarter, which also marked the debut of Macy’s new chief executive, Jeffrey Gennette, who took over from Macy’s longtime chief executive, Terry Lundgren, in March.

“In 2017, we are focused on taking actions to stabilize our brick-and-mortar business,” Gennette said in a statement. “At the same time, we will invest to aggressively grow our digital and mobile business.”

Macy’s is also leaning more heavily on its dis- count concept, Backstage, of which it opened an additional 11 locations in existing Macy’s stores. It’s where clothes go when they are deeply discounted.

Kohl’s, meanwhile, is making a bigger bet on athletic gear after introducing Under Armour workout clothing and sneakers in its stores this year, which was a big hit with shoppers — but not enough to stem a 2.7-percent decline in same-store sales.

Seattle-based Nordstrom saw greater strength in its discount chain, Nordstrom Rack, where same-store sales increased 2.3 percent in the quarter compared with a 0.8 percent decline in its full price stores, which Wall Street had expected to come in flat.

Shares of Little Rock, Ark.-based Dillard’s closed 18 percent lower after it reported a 4-percent dip in same-store sales for the quarter.