Macy’s Closing More Stores – Question Is Only When

In 2020, Macy’s management announced it would close 125 stores. Then one discovered that the closings were planned to take place over three – five years. For several reasons, I suspect the actual stores were not revealed. Now we can account for the stores.

Here is how it is all unfolding. In 2020, Macy’s closed 29 stores (and that included one Bloomingdale’s unit). In 2021, 45 stores were supposed to be closed. However, only 38 stores closed. Now we have an announcement (see below) of six Macy’s stores that will be closed in 2022 that still belong to the 45 stores. In addition, a Bloomingdale’s outlet store will close by January 29, 2022. These seven stores belong to the 2021 group.

The Macy stores to be closed this year (but belonged to last year’s count) are located in Puente Hills Mall, Ca., Streets at SouthGlenn, Col., San Jacinto Mall, Tex., Twenty-Ninth Street Mall, Colo., Summit Fair, Mo., and Brookwood Village, Ala. These stores will be closed between February and April 2022.

That leaves another 51 stores that are still to be closed of the 125 that were announced in 2020. Will all 51 stores close in the current year? I doubt it, since Jeff Gennette has indicated that the on-line business deteriorated If there was no physical store in the area.

The pandemic certainly has had an influence on when and how the closings will be managed since stores were closed by the government for some period of time during the initial months.

Late announcements of store closings are a smart management strategy. After all, sharing such news too soon may prompt a loss of sales staff and disrupt the closing sales by their absence. It is a tricky job to keep co-workers on the job while a store closes. Often there are job-openings in nearby stores that could be offered to loyal associates and a store management would want to have that option to retain strong performers.

As of the end of the third quarter, before the announcements discussed above that confirmed the additional seven stores targeted for closing from 2021, Macy’s had 516 full line stores with the Macy’s brand name, 33 Bloomingdale’s stores, 21 Bloomingdale’s outlet stores, and 160 Bluemercury beauty stores. The listing does not mention a furniture store and the Bloomie’s store in Fairfax. Va., which is a much smaller store than the traditional full-line Bloomingdale store. I call it miniaturization, and I suspect more stores will edit their assortment and miniaturize their store footprint. The Bloomie store opened last Fall.

POSTSCRIPT: The United States is overstored. Many smaller stores and smaller centers do not have sufficient customer traffic these days to make the locations viable. Smart managements have been closing stores. Whether it is Neiman Marcus or Macy’s, Nordstrom JWN or Dillard’s DDS , management teams are examining the profitability of their stores. If customers are going to visit stores, today’s shoppers prefer to shop in regional shopping centers since merchandise selections are often more bountiful and there are more social meetings places. The reduction of stores by Macy’s is a realization that the acquisition of the May Company stores back in 2005 was a mistake and should be corrected. The current management, under CEO Jeff Genette’s direction, is gradually reducing the store count by eliminating weak stores.