Macy's 2021: 45 locations to close by the Summer

Predicting the demise of Sears & Kmart since 2017!
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Re: Macy's 2021: 45 locations to close by the Summer

Post by pseudo3d »

Rivercenter is a bit surprising, but it doesn't seem like it lends itself well to "traditional" shopping. The Dillard's shut down over a decade ago (formerly the flagship Joske's and was to renovate and reopen with the mall, but ended up opening as a Dillard's instead) and has only recently been reopened with restaurants and smaller stores. And with Macy's deleting most of its downtown stores, it was only a matter of time before San Antonio's went too. The Macy's here opened as a Lord & Taylor in the late 1980s but was converted to a Foley's within a year or two and remained that way up until 2006.

Post Oak Mall is a different story, it's "my" mall and has been in a slow decline over the years (gutting a whole section of stores for Steve & Barry's back in 2005 was pretty much the turning point). Prior to 2018, it had Bealls, two Dillard's (one of which was a former Wilson's/Service Merchandise), JCPenney, Sears, and Macy's (former Foley's). The Bealls was converted to Gordmans and shut down almost immediately after converting, Sears closed last year and was replaced with Conn's HomePlus (though it was less than half of the space and I'm not sure if it opens into the space), and the JCPenney here is outdated and in poor repair. The Macy's store was the only mall store that was two levels, but has been poorly stocked since the Macy's rebranding (not to mention having some worn parquet that was never changed until around the early 2010s) and recently got that Macy's "budget store" concept.
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Re: Macy's 2021: 45 locations to close by the Summer

Post by architect »

pseudo3d wrote: January 6th, 2021, 5:04 pm Rivercenter is a bit surprising, but it doesn't seem like it lends itself well to "traditional" shopping. The Dillard's shut down over a decade ago (formerly the flagship Joske's and was to renovate and reopen with the mall, but ended up opening as a Dillard's instead) and has only recently been reopened with restaurants and smaller stores. And with Macy's deleting most of its downtown stores, it was only a matter of time before San Antonio's went too. The Macy's here opened as a Lord & Taylor in the late 1980s but was converted to a Foley's within a year or two and remained that way up until 2006.

Post Oak Mall is a different story, it's "my" mall and has been in a slow decline over the years (gutting a whole section of stores for Steve & Barry's back in 2005 was pretty much the turning point). Prior to 2018, it had Bealls, two Dillard's (one of which was a former Wilson's/Service Merchandise), JCPenney, Sears, and Macy's (former Foley's). The Bealls was converted to Gordmans and shut down almost immediately after converting, Sears closed last year and was replaced with Conn's HomePlus (though it was less than half of the space and I'm not sure if it opens into the space), and the JCPenney here is outdated and in poor repair. The Macy's store was the only mall store that was two levels, but has been poorly stocked since the Macy's rebranding (not to mention having some worn parquet that was never changed until around the early 2010s) and recently got that Macy's "budget store" concept.
As far as the Texas locations go, none are particularly a surprise.

Like pseudo3d said, the Rivercenter location didn't seem to be in immediate trouble. However, this mall has been in a state of evolution for about 10 years now, shifting from traditional mall staples to more of an entertainment and dining-based tenant lineup, which helps for drawing in tourists from the Riverwalk and other downtown attractions, but little to support traditional anchors such as Macy's. Additionally, the Shops at La Cantera in the northwest corner of the city dramatically changed the city's shopping scene when it opened in the early 2000's, becoming a retail destination in of itself while also being close to other area tourist attractions (particularly neighboring Six Flags Fiesta Texas). With other more heavily-trafficked locations in the city, it simply made sense to invest elsewhere. This store also had to contend with problems unique to its downtown location, such as reports of homeless individuals hanging out in the fitting rooms and restrooms.

Another San Antonio store which is facing closure is Rolling Oaks, a store which is attached to a run-of-the-mill mall which was developed in the late 80's in anticipation of residential development which never fully materialized. This closure is not surprising, as while the mall is not in immediate trouble, it has faced some security incidents in recent years (including a shooting in 2017), and the Macy's is located at the back of the property with poor highway visibility. The demographics in the area are also a bit lower-income with a heavy military influence due to neighboring Randolph Air Force Base.

I am also quite familiar with Post Oak (having lived in College Station for quite a few years), and echo essentially everything that pseudo3d said. Of note, this store did undergo a refresh a couple of years ago which replaced all lighting with much brighter LED fixtures, did light restroom remodeling, and added a Backstage department (but caused other departments to downsize in the process, particularly home goods). It is strange that Macy's made the decision to invest in this store with the possibility of it facing closure a short time later, but maybe this was a last ditch effort to turn things around? Even though this is the only Macy's in the immediate market, most area residents are accustomed to driving to Houston or Austin to shop due to far better selection (both The Woodlands and Willowbrook malls in the Houston area are about 1.5 hours away). The only time which this store typically sees decent traffic is on Texas A&M gameday weekends in the fall, the holidays aren't even particularly well-trafficked as the majority of Texas A&M/Blinn College students are at home with their families.

Out of the two DFW-area stores, both are somewhat expected (one extremely so). Music City Mall (formerly Vista Ridge Mall) has been in decline for years, having been previously owned by GGP but foreclosed on in 2017, it has been losing both anchors and in-line tenants at a steady pace for years. The owners which took over from GGP didn't do any favors either by shifting the mall to a locally irrelevant live music-centric image (the Music City Mall name was copied from a co-owned property in Odessa) and installing a Ten Commandments sculpture which drew notable ire in an increasingly diversifying DFW market. Overall, the property's decline can mostly be attributed to the growth of other shopping centers nearby such as Stonebriar Centre and Grapevine Mills which pulled shoppers away, along with changing demographics in the immediate area which made the center far less of a regional draw.

Golden Triangle Mall has had numerous ups and downs over the years, but is currently much more stable than where the mall was in the mid 2000's. Previously on the brink of dead mall status (ironically due to the then success and comparable draw of Vista Ridge Mall), a renovation and retenanting effort in the late 2010's proved successful in revitalizing the mall. However, the Macy's here is quite small (only one story), and was converted from a Montgomery Ward in the early 2000's. Much like Post Oak, many Denton residents are accustomed to driving towards Dallas or Fort Worth for far better shopping opportunities, and Denton as a whole is mostly a lower-income college town, which makes supporting upscale retail difficult.
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Re: Macy's 2021: 45 locations to close by the Summer

Post by Brian Lutz »

All things considered South Town Center (they dropped the "e" from Southtowne some time ago) is doing reasonably well compared to some places, but the fact that there's another Macy's store only a few miles away at Fashion Place (plus another at City Creek Plaza in downtown Salt Lake) likely makes this one redundant. This leaves JCPenney as the only remaining anchor in this mall, but other malls in the area have managed to do reasonably well without traditional anchors. University Place in Orem formerly had Nordstrom and Macy's (another former ZCMI) as anchors but both have closed, and eventually the Nordstrom space became a RC Willey (furniture and electronics) store. The Macy's remains vacant.
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Re: Macy's 2021: 45 locations to close by the Summer

Post by storewanderer »

Macy's seems to have done particularly poorly in the Pacific Northwest. I am not sure if they had too high of a concentration of stores up there or what but it seems like a lot of times we hear them closing up there, they are actually abandoning entire "areas." It does seem like some of the markets they leave, are medium sized markets where it is unusual to see a Macys present.

Idaho in general seems to be a tough market for department stores and malls. They are going to be down to 2 Dillards and 2 Macys in the entire state. Still 8 JCP Stores I guess... and 6 Kohls.

Vs. in California where Macy's was seriously overstored thanks to their monopoly game acquiring other chains there and controlling 2-3 anchor spaces in the same mall to keep Dillards, etc. away throughout the 90's. They probably did Dillards a favor in retrospect. When they close a store in California, they don't abandon a town/area entirely but typically have another store within 5 miles.
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Re: Macy's 2021: 45 locations to close by the Summer

Post by veteran+ »

rwsandiego wrote: January 6th, 2021, 4:24 pm Parkway in El Cajon, CA doesn't surprise me. This was a Robinsons-May (and a trashy one, at that) and the mall is not quite a "Macy's" type of mall. Water Tower Place in Chicago does and doesn't surprise me. The store always has been busy when I visited (the surprise) but it is a mile away from the State Street flagship that makes Water Tower look like a Penny's (the not a surprise). I was surprised when they opened a Bloomingdales in downtown Santa Monica, so this comes as no surprise.
Was that Bloomies in Santa Monica doing poorly?

I am surprised if so.

Why?
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Re: Macy's 2021: 45 locations to close by the Summer

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: January 6th, 2021, 10:46 pm Macy's seems to have done particularly poorly in the Pacific Northwest. I am not sure if they had too high of a concentration of stores up there or what but it seems like a lot of times we hear them closing up there, they are actually abandoning entire "areas." It does seem like some of the markets they leave, are medium sized markets where it is unusual to see a Macys present.

Idaho in general seems to be a tough market for department stores and malls. They are going to be down to 2 Dillards and 2 Macys in the entire state. Still 8 JCP Stores I guess... and 6 Kohls.

Vs. in California where Macy's was seriously overstored thanks to their monopoly game acquiring other chains there and controlling 2-3 anchor spaces in the same mall to keep Dillards, etc. away throughout the 90's. They probably did Dillards a favor in retrospect. When they close a store in California, they don't abandon a town/area entirely but typically have another store within 5 miles.
The Bon Marche operated stores in many small-medium sized markets and seemed to appeal a little more to the middle class. They did a reasonably good job of localizing the needs of the stores, and also had electronics and even tire centers at some locations. The stores did have more in the way of variety than Macy's did.

Meier & Frank didn't have as many stores in the smaller markets but they also had more variety and had other similarities to The Bon.

The Pacific Northwest also had a few areas where The Bon and Meier & Frank overlapped in the same market such as Salem. The Bon took the Macy's name first, Meier & Frank changed a year later. It seems like there was one mall somewhere in Oregon that had both a Meier & Frank and The Bon, and one closed when the Macy's name arrived.

Macy's is a name that entered the market by taking over existing stores, not by building their own to enter the market. Although the same is true elsewhere.

Macy's has taken a sort of cookie cutter approach to their stores and they don't really have anything special these days. Where the stores did well under old banners, they have struggled in some areas and Macy's has alienated a lot of customers. As Macy's, the Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia area does seem a little over-stored still. The Commons was relatively close to Southcenter, Tacoma is relatively close to Puyallup's South Hill Mall. Olympia is a smaller market and only a single level store. As for Oregon, You have the relatively new store at Tanasbourne (which seems out of place) which opened as Meier & Frank which is not far from Washington Square, and the store at Salem Center which pre-dates the Lloyd Center store and is showing its age, although may be helped by the fact that the Lancaster (former Bon) store has closed. Clackamas also has the furniture store which took over the old Montgomery Ward, not sure how well it's doing.

Macy's has been steadily closing downtown locations (another strike against Salem) and is steadily leaving smaller markets. Tanasbourne and South Hill Mall are also ones to watch here.
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Re: Macy's 2021: 45 locations to close by the Summer

Post by rwsandiego »

veteran+ wrote: January 7th, 2021, 6:33 am
rwsandiego wrote: January 6th, 2021, 4:24 pm Parkway in El Cajon, CA doesn't surprise me. This was a Robinsons-May (and a trashy one, at that) and the mall is not quite a "Macy's" type of mall. Water Tower Place in Chicago does and doesn't surprise me. The store always has been busy when I visited (the surprise) but it is a mile away from the State Street flagship that makes Water Tower look like a Penny's (the not a surprise). I was surprised when they opened a Bloomingdales in downtown Santa Monica, so this comes as no surprise.
Was that Bloomies in Santa Monica doing poorly?

I am surprised if so.

Why?
I don't know whether the Santa Monica Bloomies was doing poorly, but I do know every time I visited the mall Bloomies was virtually empty while Nordstrom was always packed.

I was surprised that Bloomingdale's opened at the renovated Santa Monica Place because they have another store at Century City, which is not that far away. Also, if memory serves correctly, the Santa Monica store sold clothing only and seemed to skew toward casual/clubwear instead of selling beach casual or athleisure. Given Santa Monica is on the beach and is very fitness-focused it seems like a miss in merchandising.
Super S wrote: January 7th, 2021, 7:49 am
storewanderer wrote: January 6th, 2021, 10:46 pm Macy's seems to have done particularly poorly in the Pacific Northwest....
The Bon Marche operated stores in many small-medium sized markets and seemed to appeal a little more to the middle class. They did a reasonably good job of localizing the needs of the stores, and also had electronics and even tire centers at some locations. The stores did have more in the way of variety than Macy's did.

Meier & Frank didn't have as many stores in the smaller markets but they also had more variety and had other similarities to The Bon.

The Pacific Northwest also had a few areas where The Bon and Meier & Frank overlapped in the same market such as Salem. The Bon took the Macy's name first, Meier & Frank changed a year later. It seems like there was one mall somewhere in Oregon that had both a Meier & Frank and The Bon, and one closed when the Macy's name arrived.

Macy's is a name that entered the market by taking over existing stores, not by building their own to enter the market. Although the same is true elsewhere....
I agree with your assessment, @Super S. Macy's pissed off Chicagoans by changing the name and merchandise mix at Marshall Field's. While they didn't change the name back, they did restore the mix so that it was closer to the traditional Marshall Field's pre-May Company and, in some cases, pre-Dayton-Hudson. That brought customers back in. While they closed a few former Field's stores, there weren't many located in second-tier malls because Marshall Field's typically located in first-tier malls. (Spring Hill and River Oaks being exceptions). However, The Bon (as you said) was more of a middle-class store than Macy's (and Field's) so there are more second-tier stores to close.
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Re: Macy's 2021: 45 locations to close by the Summer

Post by veteran+ »

That's interesting because Santa Monica is pretty upscale (demographic wise) and also a location that would deliver "signature" type prestige for any retailer with the adjunct cache of tourism.

Add to that the adjacent Pacific Palisades.
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Re: Macy's 2021: 45 locations to close by the Summer

Post by rwsandiego »

veteran+ wrote: January 8th, 2021, 8:01 am That's interesting because Santa Monica is pretty upscale (demographic wise) and also a location that would deliver "signature" type prestige for any retailer with the adjunct cache of tourism.

Add to that the adjacent Pacific Palisades.
A full-line Bloomingdale's would probably have done better but that store wasn't a full-line store. At least I don't think it was. I don't know that Pacific Palisades is really their market. Seems like more of a Saks/Neiman's/specialty store clientele.
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Re: Macy's 2021: 45 locations to close by the Summer

Post by TW-Upstate NY »

The Sangertown Square Mall store is one I'm surprised lasted this long. It was originally a Hess's when the mall opened back in the very early 80's. It then became a Kaufmann's at some point and finally Macy's. Hate to say it, but that mall may be in trouble now because the two-story Penney's recently closed bringing them down to two anchors vs. the four they've had since opening with the only exception being when Sears closed which was replaced by Boscov's. Now it'll be down to just two-Boscov's and Target-(which replaced Bradlees way back when.) With this closure on top of Penney's leaving, have to wonder if Boscov's will rethink staying as well.
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