Sales for the Christmas season increased slightly at Macy’s stores and related retailing operations, Macy’s Inc. reported on Thursday, Jan. 7.

The Cincinnati-based retailer reported sales of $4.426 billion for the five weeks ended Jan. 2, an increase of 0.7 percent compared with $4.397 billion in the five weeks ended Jan. 3, 2009. At stores open for at least a year, sales increased by 1 percent in December.

Macy’s operates stores at Dayton Mall and the Mall at Fairfield Commons.

The company operates more than 850 department stores in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico under the names Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s. It also operates the online sales Web sites of macys.com and bloomingdales.com.

Macy’s increased its previously provided guidance for fourth-quarter earnings. Management now expects the quarter’s earnings per share to be $1.14 to $1.18, excluding restructuring costs, compared with the prior guidance of $1 to $1.05 per share.

Online sales (macys.com and bloomingdales.com combined) were up 29 percent in December 2009 and 19 percent for the year to date. Online sales are included in the company’s report for stores open at least one year.

For most of 2009, the retailer’s sales totaled $22.2 billion, down 6 percent from $23.7 billion in the first 48 weeks of 2008. On a same-store basis, sales for 2009 were down 5.8 percent.