OSAKA -- Major retailer Mycal Corp. plans to close some 45 struggling stores and cut about 1,500 jobs from its group workforce by introducing an early retirement program, company officials said Monday.

The company, now in a restructuring drive, is trying to reduce its interest-bearing debts by 250 billion yen by August. Total debts stood at 1.16 trillion yen as of Aug. 31.

The planned closures are expected to take place sometime between March and August and involve outlets of Mycal's Saty supermarket chain and Vivre outlets, the officials said. Specific outlets to be closed have yet to be determined, they said.

Mycal will ask its 22,000 employees at 71 group firms to apply for an early retirement program beginning in January in a bid to seek a large cut in payroll costs.

It also plans to sell shares held by group firms in Mycal Card Inc., a credit card service unit. The company has already decided to sell its fitness club unit People Co.

The officials said Mycal is also considering selling shares held by its financial services unit Mycal Finance in Japan Maintenance Co., a group firm specializing in maintenance of building facilities.

Mycal posted group net losses of 5.9 billion yen on revenues of 1.856 trillion yen in the business year that ended in February.

In a statement released Monday, Mycal said it will officially unveil its corporate restructuring package in late January, after studying December sales result.

Although its specifics have yet to be finalized, the statement says, the package aims to concentrate resources on Mycal's core retail business, realize substantial cuts in interest-bearing debts and restore market confidence by increasing management transparency.