Macy's Announces Plans for 35 to 40 Store Closings

By ADAM SWIFT (Patch Staff)

Retail giant Macy’s announced plans on Tuesday to shutter up to 40 of its stores in 2016

That total would represent about five percent of the total Macy’s Stores in operations, but only about one percent of the retailer’s total sales, according to Macy’s officials.

Macy’s, Inc. today operates 770 Macy’s stores. Over the past five years, 52 Macy’s stores have been closed and 12 new Macy’s stores have been opened. In addition, six new Macy’s Backstage offprice locations are opening in fall 2015.

The locations of the 35 to 40 stores to be closed in early 2016 will be announced at a later date, once the company completes a careful analysis now under way and makes final decisions. Together, the stores’ annual sales volume, net of sales expected to be retained in nearby stores and online, is expected to be roughly $300 million.

For example, It’s highly unlikely that the Macy’s location at the Northshore Mall in Peabody would be in danger, since it is one of the anchor stores of a very busy shopping center. A Macy’s store also anchors at the Burlington Mall in Burlington.

“Physical stores remain absolutely vital to our omnichannel strategy, which provides local touchpoints and tailored merchandise assortments for shoppers in nearly every major market,” said Terry J. Lundgren, Macy’s, Inc. chairman and chief executive officer. “As new shopping centers are opened, however, many customers change their shopping habits and often the sales volume of a store gets divided among the new and nearby, existing centers. Each year, we prune some stores that are our weakest performers so that we can concentrate our resources on the best locations and maintain a strong physical presence. At the same time, we open a small number of new stores to fill gaps in our market coverage or where we have outstanding real estate opportunities.”

Macy’s will communicate its store closing decisions directly with the associates in those locations prior to a public announcement, according to company officials.