Sears stores biting bullet. (declining sales results in personnel cutbacks)

Austin's two Sears stores are trimming their staffs along with the rest of the Chicago-based company in an effort to make up for declining sales nationwide.

The two Austin stores together employed a total of 700 employees at the end of last November, according to information supplied for the list of largest Austin department stores published by the Austin Business Journal. Company officials declined to quantify the exact impact of Austin cutbacks.

"There will be a few people who have to leave the company, but we are holding it to the office end of the business," said Gene Stranahan, manager of the Hancock Center store.

The auditing, personnel, …