Macy's announces new round of closings

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Re: Macy's announces new round of closings

Post by architect »

pseudo3d wrote: January 4th, 2018, 3:50 pm
klkla wrote: January 4th, 2018, 3:34 pm
pseudo3d wrote: January 4th, 2018, 7:35 am Wait, they had a Pavilions supermarket INSIDE the mall (which was also named Westside Pavilions)? Am I missing something...?
Originally there was a Vons next door to the Macy's. When the developer decided to build an enclosed mall called the Westside Pavilion in the space that included the Vons they agreed to open a new underground store in the development.

The new Vons was a low volume store (which was sad because the store it replaced was one of their highest volume stores) so they decided to change the format to Pavilions before ultimately pulling the plug all together,
I'm guessing it was only accessed via parking garage and not through street level or the mall itself?
It is unfortunate that such an arrangment typically doesn;t work well in the US, as this is very common in Europe and is super convenient! Many department stores even have a grocer in the basement or ground floor.
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Re: Macy's announces new round of closings

Post by SamSpade »

arizonaguy wrote: January 4th, 2018, 7:01 am More closings to add to the list:

Miami (Downtown), Miami, Fla.

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/20 ... 002886001/
On Google, this store doesn't look anything like a typical Macy's to me, downtown or otherwise. Anyone got context?
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Re: Macy's announces new round of closings

Post by pseudo3d »

SamSpade wrote: January 4th, 2018, 4:39 pm
arizonaguy wrote: January 4th, 2018, 7:01 am More closings to add to the list:

Miami (Downtown), Miami, Fla.

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/20 ... 002886001/
On Google, this store doesn't look anything like a typical Macy's to me, downtown or otherwise. Anyone got context?
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architect wrote: January 4th, 2018, 4:21 pm
pseudo3d wrote: January 4th, 2018, 3:50 pm
klkla wrote: January 4th, 2018, 3:34 pm

Originally there was a Vons next door to the Macy's. When the developer decided to build an enclosed mall called the Westside Pavilion in the space that included the Vons they agreed to open a new underground store in the development.

The new Vons was a low volume store (which was sad because the store it replaced was one of their highest volume stores) so they decided to change the format to Pavilions before ultimately pulling the plug all together,
I'm guessing it was only accessed via parking garage and not through street level or the mall itself?
It is unfortunate that such an arrangment typically doesn;t work well in the US, as this is very common in Europe and is super convenient! Many department stores even have a grocer in the basement or ground floor.
Actually I don't know about the basement installation or how it is configured. The parking garage connected to the mall actually dates back to the 1960s (save for the section that they built to connect to the roof), and I'm not even sure it has a basement level.
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Re: Macy's announces new round of closings

Post by storewanderer »

Macy's seems to be tanking very fast. I have no idea how they eeked out the same store sales gain they eeked out, but I am shocked they did based on how my local store looked. In all of my years, this year, I have never seen Macy's so messy, poorly merchandised, and junkily merchandised. It looked so poorly maintained and dirty in the store I thought I was in JC Penney. But actually, JC Penney looked better than the local Macy's did all holiday season...
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Re: Macy's announces new round of closings

Post by pseudo3d »

storewanderer wrote: January 5th, 2018, 7:02 pm Macy's seems to be tanking very fast. I have no idea how they eeked out the same store sales gain they eeked out, but I am shocked they did based on how my local store looked. In all of my years, this year, I have never seen Macy's so messy, poorly merchandised, and junkily merchandised. It looked so poorly maintained and dirty in the store I thought I was in JC Penney. But actually, JC Penney looked better than the local Macy's did all holiday season...
I went to a Macy's sometime this fall but sorry, JCPenney was still worse overall last December. No associates in sight (literally none except at the counters), paint peeling in the dressing rooms (no attendants and clothing strewn everywhere), and my personal favorite, a mannequin with bloody fingerprints for eyes (seen to be believed, but we'll save that for another thread).
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Re: Macy's announces new round of closings

Post by architect »

pseudo3d wrote: January 5th, 2018, 8:55 pm
storewanderer wrote: January 5th, 2018, 7:02 pm Macy's seems to be tanking very fast. I have no idea how they eeked out the same store sales gain they eeked out, but I am shocked they did based on how my local store looked. In all of my years, this year, I have never seen Macy's so messy, poorly merchandised, and junkily merchandised. It looked so poorly maintained and dirty in the store I thought I was in JC Penney. But actually, JC Penney looked better than the local Macy's did all holiday season...
I went to a Macy's sometime this fall but sorry, JCPenney was still worse overall last December. No associates in sight (literally none except at the counters), paint peeling in the dressing rooms (no attendants and clothing strewn everywhere), and my personal favorite, a mannequin with bloody fingerprints for eyes (seen to be believed, but we'll save that for another thread).
In my experience, merchandising at JCPenney varies much more widely from store to store than JCPenney, largely due to their market segment. Due to being at the more value-oriented end of the department store spectrum, some Penney locations tend to attract large groups of families and other shoppers who have a tendency to terrorize the store, creating an uphill battle for the employees of these locations to keep the stores clean and organized. In addition, Penney's store base varies widely from stores which are either new or recently renovated under the Johnson era to stores which haven't seen a new coat of paint in 30 years. Even in DFW (their home market), Penney's stores run the gamut from being Ross-level to Macys-level.

On the flipside, Macy's seems to be suffering not from the condition of the stores themselves, but just terrible merchandising. With quite a few major brands reducing their department store presence (due to intense discounting which reduces the value of their brands), chains like Macy's are forced to either run with thin displays or fill their stores with products which would have been traditionally downscale for department stores. This is is an especially large problem for Macys compared to its peers such as Dillards and Belk as Macy's tends to operate in more decidedly more "urban" areas vs. closing stores as demographics change. As a result, Macy's has been forced to gear their merchandise to the lowest-end stores in their store base, and as a result, these filler products tend to downscale even their flagship locations. By comparison, Dillards and Belk tend to stock an upscale-leaning but still mainstream product mix, and elect to close stores or convert them into clearance centers when demographics change to the point that their standard merchandising no longer fits.
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Re: Macy's announces new round of closings

Post by CalItalian »

pseudo3d wrote: January 4th, 2018, 3:50 pm
klkla wrote: January 4th, 2018, 3:34 pm
pseudo3d wrote: January 4th, 2018, 7:35 am Wait, they had a Pavilions supermarket INSIDE the mall (which was also named Westside Pavilions)? Am I missing something...?
Originally there was a Vons next door to the Macy's. When the developer decided to build an enclosed mall called the Westside Pavilion in the space that included the Vons they agreed to open a new underground store in the development.

The new Vons was a low volume store (which was sad because the store it replaced was one of their highest volume stores) so they decided to change the format to Pavilions before ultimately pulling the plug all together,
I'm guessing it was only accessed via parking garage and not through street level or the mall itself?
It was accessed directly from the bottom floor of the long time parking garage of May Co. (now the closing Macy's) and from a side entrance down a hallway that would take you to an escalator and elevator that would take you to the first level of the Westside Pavilion mall (and also an entrance to the basement floor of May Co./Robinsons-May/Macy's which today is mostly the Men's Department).

The former Pavilions supermarket is now a 2-story Macy's furniture store. They cut a hole in the floor to make it two story and lead directly to the first story of the mall. I gather it is closing, too, as the mall is shuttering itself.
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Re: Macy's announces new round of closings

Post by CalItalian »

pseudo3d wrote: January 5th, 2018, 8:55 pm
storewanderer wrote: January 5th, 2018, 7:02 pm Macy's seems to be tanking very fast. I have no idea how they eeked out the same store sales gain they eeked out, but I am shocked they did based on how my local store looked. In all of my years, this year, I have never seen Macy's so messy, poorly merchandised, and junkily merchandised. It looked so poorly maintained and dirty in the store I thought I was in JC Penney. But actually, JC Penney looked better than the local Macy's did all holiday season...
I went to a Macy's sometime this fall but sorry, JCPenney was still worse overall last December. No associates in sight (literally none except at the counters), paint peeling in the dressing rooms (no attendants and clothing strewn everywhere), and my personal favorite, a mannequin with bloody fingerprints for eyes (seen to be believed, but we'll save that for another thread).
I was in a number of Macy's and JCPenney locations during the holidays. The best JCPenney I was in was Northridge (San Fernando Valley). Not only do they have appliances but this location also added tv's and mattresses. I was actually impressed. But when it comes to clothes, they were pretty bad. The worst is how messy the clothing areas of the store was. It did have one of the best licensed sports merchandise areas in any department store, including Macy's with Lids, that I have seen at the beginning of the holiday season. But, they didn't get additional shipments to replenish and it looked pretty bad the last two weeks before Chrismtas. This location also does not have a price check scanner. I asked where one was and an associate said said go to the front of the line and we'll price any item for you anytime. No thanks.

Macy's locations depends on the store. Best maintained store BY FAR is the new Century City (Los Angeles) location that opened April 2017. Valley Fair (Santa Clara) looked pretty good around Thanksgiving but two days before Christmas it was trashed.

The one Macy's location I really don't understand is the Westfield Culver City (Fox Hills Mall). It's a former The Broadway. I've always hated the mens department there even going back to the days when it was The Broadway (small, occupies about half of the first floor of three floors). Although the area has gentrified quite dramatically over the years, it use to cater to primarily an African-American clientle, the area is now quite mixed with Latinos outnumbering blacks. But the mens department still caters, almost exclusively, to blacks. The merchandise does not reflect the Westside at all and traffic was light even on days near Christmas. On the contrary, the women's department is great and appeals to everyone.
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Re: Macy's announces new round of closings

Post by CalItalian »

klkla wrote: January 4th, 2018, 3:34 pm
pseudo3d wrote: January 4th, 2018, 7:35 am Wait, they had a Pavilions supermarket INSIDE the mall (which was also named Westside Pavilions)? Am I missing something...?
Originally there was a Vons next door to the Macy's. When the developer decided to build an enclosed mall called the Westside Pavilion in the space that included the Vons they agreed to open a new underground store in the development.

The new Vons was a low volume store (which was sad because the store it replaced was one of their highest volume stores) so they decided to change the format to Pavilions before ultimately pulling the plug all together,
The area next to the now closing Macy's and parking garage was a local shopping center. It contained a Vons, Drug King, See's Candies, a couple of banks and other stores. There was a small parking lot in front of all the stores and larger parking lot behind all of the stores. Between the shopping center and May Company (Macy's) was a 2-plex movie theatre, a Baskin-Robbins and another store or two I don't recall. I grew up within a mile of this shopping center so I know it well.

The Pavilions, at the time, was quite nice and large (and had business). It had a pharmacy, too. No other Vons or later Pavilions had a pharmacy at that time until the Pavilions Culver City and later Vons Santa Monica (rebuild after the '94 earthquake destroyed the Safeway) each opened with a pharmacy. It was rebranded as a Pavilions just shortly after the Pavilions chain was started.

The problem with the market was the parking. It was difficult to get parking at peak mall shopping times. Eventually, they dedicated an area to market parking only on the ground floor of the parking garage - with a security guard who would enforce a 90 minute parking limit - but by that time it was too late.
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Re: Macy's announces new round of closings

Post by klkla »

CalItalian wrote: January 10th, 2018, 12:53 am The Pavilions, at the time, was quite nice and large (and had business). It had a pharmacy, too. No other Vons or later Pavilions had a pharmacy at that time until the Pavilions Culver City and later Vons Santa Monica (rebuild after the '94 earthquake destroyed the Safeway) each opened with a pharmacy. It was rebranded as a Pavilions just shortly after the Pavilions chain was started.
It depends on what your definition of 'had business' is. I worked for the company at that time and it was averaging around $250K a week which was subpar, especially considering how expensive the rent was. I don't think the store ever made a profit as a Vons or Pavilions.

Almost all original Pavilions had pharmacies in 1988 when they took over Safeway. Even some of the Pavilions Places already had pharmacies at that time.

The new store in Santa Monica had been planned for years before the Northridge earthquake. They had to buy out other property owners on the block. The original store was in the 10,000 sq. ft. range and was built in the 1940's.
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