Macy's Closing Chicago's Mag Mile Store

CHICAGO — Macy's is shuttering its Magnificent Mile location after 45 years in business, the Chicago Tribune reports. The 170,000-square-foot department store in Water Tower Place will hold a going-out-of-business sale for the next 8 to 12 weeks before closing its doors for good.

"After careful consideration, Macy’s has decided to close our Water Tower Place location,” Macy's told the paper. "This closure is part of the company's strategy to right-size its store fleet, announced in early 2020."

Macy's announced earlier this year that it would downsize — or "right-size" as the company says — in response to the coronavirus pandemic, which hit retailers hard. Macy's in particular has reported a 20 percent quarterly decline in same-store sales. Plans included closing 125 large department stores in favor of smaller stores under 20,000 square feet, Forbes reported in September. That's in addition to more than 100 stores the retailer has shuttered since 2015.

According to NBC News, the company recently notified employees at 45 stores they will close by the end of the year. A full list of stores has not been released.

"The decision to close a store is always a difficult one, and Macy’s Water Tower Place has been honored to serve its customers on the Magnificent Mile for 45 years," the company's statement continued.

The Magnificent Mile has been gutted of nearly 20 percent of its restaurants and storefronts in the past year, according to the Sun-Times. A plan to bail out retailers through the creation of a special tax district has stalled in the City Council.

Read more from the Chicago Tribune