Macy’s has closed a number of stores this year in an effort to revive its slumping sales.
The struggling retailer announced in February that it would close 150 underperforming stores over the next three years, with 50 of them shut by the end of 2024.
But the company now expects to close 55 locations by the end of the year as part of its cost-cutting plan.
Macy’s has not yet announced exactly which stores will be affected by the measure, but employees are speculating whether their location is slated for closure.
Like many other department stores, Macy’s is struggling with declining sales due to the proliferation of online competitors and the decline of American suburbs.
Macy’s has increased the number of stores it is closing this year in an effort to revive its shrinking business (Pictured: Flagship store in Manhattan)
During Macy’s latest earnings report, CFO Adrian Mitchell said the company is “very pleased with the progress” it is making in selling its physical stores to landlords and developers.
“We are very pleased with the value we can create with those deals and transactions,” he said.
The company appointed a new CEO, Tony Spring, earlier this year, who announced a major turnaround.
This means that more than a third of the stores will have to close (with only 350 remaining nationwide by 2026) and that the chain will have to focus more on the more luxurious stores Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury.
In January, five more branches were closed and more than 2,000 employees were laid off.
While Macy’s hasn’t announced which stores will close, some employees on Reddit are wondering which locations might be in the pipeline.
On a thread titled ‘Macy’s Stores‘ Employees speculate that a store in Newington, New Hampshire, one in Traverse City, Michigan, and one in the WestShore Plaza shopping center in Tampa, Florida, will close after the holidays.
According to retail expert Neil Saunders, some locations have been “left to their own devices” and are showing signs of neglect.
“The biggest mistakes that have been made at Macy’s have been the quality of the stores and the product assortment,” Saunders, an analyst at GlobalData Retail, told DailyMail.com earlier this year.
“And so over the years, customers have been abandoned, sales have declined, store productivity has declined. All the metrics have gone in the wrong direction.”
This comes after the company broke off negotiations with two investors who wanted to take over the chain in July.
Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital Management had offered to buy the chain for $6.9 billion, but Macy’s said the deal was not in the best interests of shareholders.
Macy’s said at the time that the offer was not “compelling” or an “executable proposal” because the investor group did not have sufficient financing.
The investors considered spinning off Macy’s real estate assets or separating its online operations from its struggling brick-and-mortar stores, CNN reported.
Over the past few decades, investment groups have bought up underperforming retailers in an effort to take them private and improve their operations.
Retail analyst Neil Saunders said Macy’s stores have been “left to fend for themselves” as investment has dried up and quality has declined.
Macy’s said it is focusing more on its upscale offerings Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury
Department stores have fallen from 14.5 percent of total U.S. retail sales in 1985 to just 2.6 percent in 2023
Macy’s opened its flagship store on Herald Square in Manhattan in 1902
Macy’s confident in turnaround strategy led by new CEO Tony Spring
Macy’s is one of many stores that have closed their doors this year amid a widespread “retail apocalypse” that has seen brick-and-mortar stores grapple with rising theft and ever-tightening profit margins.
In the first four months of 2024, there were almost 2,600 store closuresIf this trend continues, nearly 8,000 people will have died by the end of the year.
In recent months, Walmart has closed three more of its underperforming locations, while Best Buy closed ten in march.
Dollar stores have also been hit hard: 99 Cents Only announced in April that it would close all 371 of its locations in California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada.
The 1,000 closures of Family Dollar and its sister company Dollar Tree will take place over the next three years.
Express, a well-known mall-based retailer, filed for bankruptcy in April and said it would close 95 Express locations, in addition to all of its UpWest stores.
In early May, Rue21, the teen fashion chain that is a fixture in malls across America, also announced that it would close all of its 543 U.S. stores after filing for bankruptcy.
Badcock Home Furniture & More announced in late July that it will close all 380 of its stores across the southern U.S. after the company filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.
And last week it was announced that Big Lots will close 315 stores in multiple states as financial problems mount.