BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Service Merchandise is trimming 1,750 full-time employees from its work force to reduce expenses as it attempts to pull out of bankruptcy, the company announced Wednesday.

The job cuts represent 10 percent of the Brentwood-based retailer’s work force, which already had been reduced from 25,000 full-time employees two years ago to 16,974.

Service Merchandise filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 1999.

In Maine, Service Merchandise has stores in Augusta and South Portland.