Retailing's slump has claimed another venerable victim: 134-year-old Stern's, the third major chain to collapse since Christmas. Stern's parent, Federated Department Stores, is dumping all of its 24 Stern's at suburban malls in New York and New Jersey by converting most of them to Macy's, and two to Bloomingdale's. It will completely shut down five of the locations and lay off as many as 2,600 workers. Another 4,800 Stern's employees at the surviving converted stores will remain on the payroll following mammoth fire sales in May at the Stern's stores. The switchover will cost up to $150 million, but fire sale revenue will cover about half that amount, executives said. "Stern's was too old for today's shoppers, and its demise was very predictable," said retailing analyst Kurt Barnard.