Macy’s announced on Wednesday that it will close 68 store and lay off more than 10,000 employees across the United States. The department store chain was disappointed after its holiday sales. Besides, there was an unfavorable report from last quarter when sales went down, and stocks went down 10 percent. With so many stores closing, could one of them be in your neighborhood?
Urban locations
Some of the stores on the list have already closed. The others are slated to close in early spring or in the middle of the year. Most of the Macy's that are closing are located in urban areas.
The largest Macy's that is closing is located in downtown Minneapolis. Only half of the space in the 1.25 million square-foot facility was being used anyway. Texas is closing eight stores. Pennsylvania is closing six of its stores. Florida is closing five of its Macy's. Of the 68 stores on the list of closings, three have already been closed in Honolulu and North Hollywood. The 68 stores are part of the 100 stores Macy's promised last August that it would eventually close. Final clearance sales will start on Monday, January 9 at some of the stores that are closing early this year. The closing sales will run for approximately eight to 12 weeks in order to get rid of as much merchandise as possible.
Displaced employees
Of the 10,000 employees being laid off, about half of them are store associates. The layoff will not be all at once. The first 3,900 employees will be laid off soon. Another 6,200 jobs will be eliminated from the management team. The savings from the closed stores and the laying off of employees will be used to market the Macy's digital business.
New stores to open
It might seem strange that Macy's is closing 68 stores and laying off more than 10,000 employees, but it is also opening new stores. In the next two years, the chain plans to open about 50 additional Macy’s Backstage locations. These will be inside Macy’s stores that already exist. About 50 Bluemercury beauty specialty stores will also be inside existing Macy's stores.
