More Than 100 Jobs To Be Cut At Meriden Macy's

MERIDEN, CT — Macy's will have 132 layoffs when its Westfield Meriden Mall location closes this year. Employees will have the opportunity to transfer to open positions at nearby Macy's stores and will be given a description of their benefits, according to a state Department of Labor document.

The job eliminations will occur between March 7 and March 20.

The national retailer is the latest to announce the shuttering of a Connecticut store, joining dozens of others this past year.

A Macy's representative said the decision to close was "a difficult one" but that they were proud to served the community for 49 years. The retailer has other nearby locations at Brass Mill Center in Waterbury, The Connecticut Post Mall in Milford, and The Westfarms Mall in Farmington.

A clearance sale is anticipated to begin this month and will last eight to twelve weeks, according to The Hartford Business Journal. The Westfield Meriden Mall has lost three tenants over the last six years, including JCPenney in 2014 and Sears about a year ago.

Macy's is also planning closures of several of its stores in Ohio, Tennessee and Seattle. In 2016, the department store closed a location at the Enfield Square Mall, as part of a plan to close 70 stores across the country.

Macy's isn't the only brick-and-mortar retailer in trouble.

Nationwide, Forever 21, Walgreens, Dressbarn, Olympia Sports, A.C. Moore and other chains shut down more than 9,300 stores in 2019 — making it the biggest year ever for store closing, according to Coresight Research. The retail technology and research firm says closures jumped about 60 percent from the 5,844 the firm tracked in 2018.