NEW YORK, United States — Department store chain Macy's Inc plans to hire 85,000 temporary workers in the United States for the holiday shopping season, down from 86,000 last year.

Macy's said on Monday that about 12,000 positions would be based in direct-to-consumer fulfillment facilities in areas such as Arizona, Oklahoma and Connecticut.

Macy's customer service centers will get 1,600 workers.

More than 1,000 will be hired as support staff across the country for other events such as the Thanksgiving Day Parade, the operator of Macy's and Bloomingdale's stores said.

U.S. retailers get nearly a third of their annual sales and almost 40 percent of their profits in the shopping season that starts a day after Thanksgiving and goes on until early January.

Rival Kohl's Corp said this month that it would hire 69,000 workers for the season, about 3 percent more than last year.

Macy's shares were little changed at $54.30 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

By Yashaswini Swamynathan; editor: Kirti Pandey.