Macy’s to Close 35-40 Stores in 2016

September 9, 2015  by in Business Strategy, Furniture Retailing, Industry   

The move is part of the company’s growing omni-channel strategy, but Terry Lundgren, chairman and CEO, said stores remain a key component of the company’s strategy to provide “local touchpoints and tailored merchandise assortment for shoppers.”

“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,” he said. “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.”

The locations of the stores to be closed will be announced at a later date, once the company wraps up its analysis. 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.

Macy’s currently operates 770 stores. Over the past five years (2010 through 2015 to date), 52 Macy’s stores have been closed and 12 Macy’s stores have been opened. In addition, six new Macy’s Backstage off-price locations will open this fall.