Luxury retailer Nordstrom Inc. said Thursday its profit fell 24 percent in the first quarter, hurt by lower sales in what the company called a challenging retail environment.

First-quarter net income fell to $119 million, or 54 cents per diluted share, from $157 million, or 60 cents per share a year earlier.

Sales also fell, dropping to $1.88 billion from $1.95 billion in 2007.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial Network expected first-quarter earnings of 49 cents per share and sales of $1.9 billion.

Same-store sales, a key retail metric that measures sales at stores open for more than a year, fell 6.5 percent from a year earlier, which was greater than the Seattle retail chain's earlier estimate of a 3 percent to 5 percent decrease.

Nordstrom cut its earnings outlook for the full year to $2.65 to $2.89 per share, from an earlier forecast for $2.75 to $2.90 per share.

Analysts expect second-quarter earnings of 69 cents per share and fiscal 2008 earnings of $2.76 per share.