Macy’s announced plans to close 68 stores and cut more than 10,000 jobs Wednesday, foreshadowing things to come for the brick and mortar retail industry in 2017.
The company expects the closings and layoffs to generate annual expense savings of approximately $550 million in 2017. Macy’s plans to invest an additional $250 million in growing the retailer’s digital business as well as investments in Macy’s China.
“While we are pleased with the strong performance of our highly developed online business, we continue to experience declining traffic in our stores where the majority of our business is still transacted,” Terry Lundgren, chairman and CEO of Macy’s, said in a press release.
Lundgren said the company will continue to evolve as customer behavior changes. The classic American retailer still conducts a majority of its business in physical stores, but said it is increasingly focused on growing its online presence, in-store experience and mobile-enabled shopping.
Sixty-three of the 68 stores will close in the early spring of 2017 and two others will close in mid-2017. Three additional locations were sold, or will be sold, according to the press release.
Macy’s told its shareholders that the company’s 2017 sales are expected to decline $575 million, but that the company will attempt to retain some of the potential sales losses by targeted marketing efforts to draw customers to nearby store locations that have not closed.
Macy’s currently operates 730 stores, and along with the 68 closings, officials announced it will “opportunistically close up to 30 additional stores over the next few years as leases or sale transactions are completed.”
Macy’s was founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy, who at the time, was operating dry goods stores up and down the east coast. The company’s logo is a red star, based off of a tattoo that Macy got as a teenager.
Ten Of The 68 Macy’s That Will Close In 2017:
- Douglaston, Douglaston, NY (144 associates)
- Mission Valley Apparel, San Diego, CA (140 associates)
- Eastland Center, Harper Woods, MI (121 associates)
- Westland, Westland, MI (106 associates);
- Minneapolis Downtown, Minneapolis, MN (280 associates)
- Moorestown, Moorestown, NJ (107 associates)
- West Oaks Mall, Houston, TX (135 associates)
- Landmark, Alexandria, VA (119 associates)
- Everett, Everett, WA (109 associates)
- Simi Valley Town Center, Simi Valley, CA (105 associates)
- (Full List Of Store Closings Via Macy’s press release)
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