Macy’s is kicking off the new year by identifying the next round of underperforming stores it plans to close, 14 across a dozen states, as it executes its turnaround strategy.
The New York-based retailer — parent of not only its namesake chain but also Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury — will be shutting the stores early this year. For its full-line Macy’s stores, clearance sales are slated to start in the middle of the month and typically run for about 10 weeks.
Roughly two years ago, then-new Macy’s CEO Tony Spring unveiled a “Bold New Chapter” for the core department-store chain. It entailed shutting poorly performing Macy’s stores, 150 by the end of this year, to pour resources and make improvements at more promising locations. Then a year ago, Macy’s unveiled the first group of stores, 66 of them, that would be closed. On Thursday, Spring sent a memo to employees that referenced the decision on the next group of stores to go dark.
California and New Jersey will see the most stores closed in this batch, two in each state.
“In executing our strategy, we continue to review our portfolio and make careful decisions about where and how we invest, including closing underproductive stores and streamlining operations,” Spring said in his memo.
“These decisions are not made lightly,” he said. “We communicated directly with affected colleagues first and are providing support, including transfer opportunities where available, as well as severance and outplacement resources where applicable.”
These changes will let Macy’s “focus where it will have the greatest impact — reimagining our best stores, enhancing customer service, expanding our luxury business, and advancing our supply chain capabilities,” according to Spring.
The new closings are:
California
- Grossmont Center, 5500 Grossmont Center Drive, La Mesa.
- West Valley Mall, 3400 Naglee Road, Tracy.
Georgia
- Northlake Mall, 4880 Briarcliff Road NE, Atlanta.
Maryland
- Marley Station, 7900 Ritchie Highway, Glen Burnie.
Michigan
- Rivertown Crossings, 3850 Rivertown Parkway SW, Grandville.
Minnesota
- Crossroads Center, 4101 W. Division St., St. Cloud.
New Hampshire
- Fox Run, 50 Fox Run Road, Newington.
New Jersey
- Livingston Mall, 112 Eisenhower Parkway, Livingston.
- Interstate Shopping Center, 233 N. Franklin Turnpike, Ramsey.
New York
- Boulevard Mall, 1255 Niagara Falls Blvd., Amherst.
North Carolina
- Triangle Town Center, 3801 Sumner Blvd., Raleigh.
Pennsylvania
- Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills, 100 Pittsburgh Mills Circle, Tarentum.
Texas
- La Palmera, 5488 S. Padre Island Drive, Corpus Christi.
Washington
- Budget House, 17855 Southcenter Parkway, Tukwila.
The location that’s being shuttered in Ramsey is one of Macy’s small-format stores. The one in Washington state is a Macy’s furniture store.
In his memo, Spring told employees that customers are responding to the improvements that Macy’s has made so far in a group of “go-forward” stores. Those 125 “reimagine” stores are “continuing to outperform — growing comp sales 2.7% in the third quarter — proving the success of elevated merchandising, store design, and customer experience investments,” according to Spring.