NEW YORK -- The president of Nordstrom Inc. received compensation valued at about $1.9 million last year,

according to an Associated Press calculation of data in a regulatory filing.

KGW photo

Downtown Portland's Nordstrom store.

The pay package awarded to Blake Nordstrom was a 19 percent decrease from his 2007 compensation, mostly

because he was not granted a performance-based cash bonus this year.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Nordstrom said its weak financial performance last year

resulted in "limited or nonexistent" performance-based bonuses for its top executives.

Like many luxury retailers, sales for Seattle-based Nordstrom have dropped sharply since September as the

economy has deteriorated. For 2008, Nordstrom's same-store sales dropped 9 percent. Same-store sales, or sales at

stores open at least a year, are a key indicator of retailer performance since they measure growth at existing

stores rather than newly opened ones.

The company's profit last year tumbled 44 percent to $401 million. Total sales fell 6.3 percent to $8.3

billion.