Macy's closing 4 Downtown stores across US

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Answering my own question, but here's what I could find from a quick gmaps search:

Boston
Providence
Manhattan
DC
Chicago
Salt Lake City
San Francisco


After today's announcement, I think they're all now in the danger zone, other than the original herald square store in Manhattan, of course.

The SF one is closing later this year.

I personally wouldn't count the Providence one, as it's in a suburbanish mall on the edge of the city center. Not clear why that one would count and not, say, Stamford, CT, which is in a much more urban-style mall right in the city center. Or traditional urban freestanding locations like Flushing.

[Steely Dan]

^ damn, I didn't know the SF union square store's closure had already been announced.

A dying species indeed.

Originally Posted by Crawford

I personally wouldn't count the Providence one, as it's in a suburbanish mall on the edge of the city center. Not clear why that one would count and not, say, Stamford, CT

I was only looking at major city downtowns on gmaps.

Providence had a downtown Macy's.

It never would have crossed my mind to check Stamford, CT.

[UrbanImpact]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Answering my own question, but here's what I could find from a quick gmaps search:

Boston
Providence
Manhattan
DC
Chicago
Salt Lake City
San Francisco


After today's announcement, I think they're all now in the danger zone, other than the original herald square store in Manhattan, of course.

Miami Beach:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/2wUuQvv9gMLHsvvD9

Edit: The land is on the market

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Answering my own question, but here's what I could find from a quick gmaps search:

Boston
Providence
Manhattan
DC
Chicago
Salt Lake City
San Francisco


After today's announcement, I think they're all now in the danger zone, other than the original herald square store in Manhattan, of course.

I don't know if the Herald Square store is completely safe, although it's probably the safest on this list. Some activist investors are trying to push the company to divest itself of its real estate holdings. One of the points they started pushing about a month ago is that the Herald Square location is worth more than the market value of the entire company.

[Crawford]

Macys is trying to partner with a developer to build a giant office tower above the Herald Square flagship. We'll see how that goes. But, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if the flagship location is worth a ton. The Bloomingdales flagship might be worth even more.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

Twelve years later...

I lived within 2 1/2 miles of that store for 31 years of my adult life and I loved going there... especially when it was still Foley's. I hate that it was demolished and I hate what replaced it. I especially hate that the replacement completely turned its back on Main Street.

I vaguely remember going to some big store that had a Santa's Village or something when I was a kid in the Sixties. I'm guessing it must have been that Foley's.

Edited to add: About that building on the far left of the photo: I remember once riding with my mom when she went to pick up my dad from work when that was still the Humble Building. The "new" Humble Building would open soon after that.

My wife works for the company who bought that Foleys, imploded it and then built its replacement as its new HQ.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I don't know if the Herald Square store is completely safe, although it's probably the safest on this list.

Even if Macy's was to cease retail operations at Herald Square, the structure itself is protected, no?

The old Marshall Fields store on State Street is a National Historic Landmark and listed on NRHP, as well as being an official Chicago Landmark.

So regardless of what actually does or doesn't happen inside of it, the physical structure itself, as well as many of its spectacular interior and exterior flourishes, is as legally protected as a building in Chicago can get.

[Crawford]

Macys Herald Square isn't landmarked. It could be demolished. There was such a plan around 20 years ago, where Tishman Speyer would have built Macys a new flagship to the west, and the existing site would have been replaced by office towers.

I'm pretty sure it's two buildings, connected. The Seventh Ave. side is much taller and more streamlined. Maybe 1940's compared to the (at least) century old original building.

But the current plan is to plop an office tower on top of the original (Herald Square) side.

Other Manhattan department stores are landmarked. Bergdorf Goodman and Saks are both landmarked, though Saks already has an office tower (maybe early 1990's-era) built on top, which included a store expansion. The eastern third or so of Saks is from the 1990's.

Bloomingdales has also had frequent redevelopment rumors, often involving Bloomingdales building a new flagship one block north, where Bloomingdales has corporate offices, and then redeveloping the flagship with towers. The adjacent Bloomberg HQ tower replaced a defunct flagship department store (Alexander's), which closed in the 1990's.

[JManc]

^ are you referring to the big one with the wooden escalators on Broadway? I just googled it and it is landmarked. NYS and nationally. I wonder how they would build a high rise on top of the original building unless they either reinforce structure or the building was overbuilt like the MetLife building.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by JManc

^ are you referring to the big one with the wooden escalators on Broadway? I just googled it and it is landmarked. NYS and nationally. I wonder how they would build a high rise on top of the original building unless they either reinforce structure or the building was overbuilt like the MetLife building.

Nothing on the Macy's block appears to be officially landmarked.

Take a look at the NYC landmarks map. Macys has the whole north side of 34th Street between Broadway and 7th. Ave.

https://nyclpc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=93a88691cace4067828b1eede432022b

And yeah, they have the wooden escalators, in the more historical half of the block (original building).

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Nothing on the Macy's block appears to be officially landmarked.

Take a look at the NYC landmarks map. Macys has the whole north side of 34th Street between Broadway and 7th. Ave.

https://nyclpc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=93a88691cace4067828b1eede432022b

And yeah, they have the wooden escalators, in the more historical half of the block (original building).

I'm assuming NYC has more rigorous landmark status than NYS or federally?

[craigs]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ damn, I didn't know the SF union square store's closure had already been announced.

Of all the nation's legacy downtown shopping districts, Union Square seems to have been the most decimated by e-commerce and COVID/post-COVID tourism declines. In just the last four years, dozens of big-name department and specialty stores have fled the area. It's shocking to see a once vibrant, world-class downtown shopping district disappear like that, and so quickly. Losing Macy's will be a real nail in Union Square's coffin.

As a kid, I remember how, on Black Fridays, my family would take the train up to SF and spend the day in Union Square looking at the store displays, buying presents for our extended family members, having lunch, and otherwise soaking in the ambiance. It wasn't officially Christmastime until my family hit up Union Square.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by craigs

Of all the nation's legacy downtown shopping districts, Union Square seems to have been the most decimated by e-commerce and COVID/post-COVID tourism declines. In just the last four years, dozens of big-name department and specialty stores have fled the area. It's shocking to see a once vibrant, world-class downtown shopping district disappear like that, and so quickly. Losing Macy's will be a real nail in Union Square's coffin.

As a kid, I remember how, on Black Fridays, my family would take the train up to SF and spend the day in Union Square looking at the store displays, buying presents for our extended family members, having lunch, and otherwise soaking in the ambiance. It wasn't officially Christmastime until my family hit up Union Square.

That Union Square Macy's was cool. When my wife was in town to visit, we'd hit up the Cheesecake Factory on the top floor.

[38 Geary]

Originally Posted by craigs

Of all the nation's legacy downtown shopping districts, Union Square seems to have been the most decimated by e-commerce and COVID/post-COVID tourism declines. In just the last four years, dozens of big-name department and specialty stores have fled the area. It's shocking to see a once vibrant, world-class downtown shopping district disappear like that, and so quickly. Losing Macy's will be a real nail in Union Square's coffin.

As a kid, I remember how, on Black Fridays, my family would take the train up to SF and spend the day in Union Square looking at the store displays, buying presents for our extended family members, having lunch, and otherwise soaking in the ambiance. It wasn't officially Christmastime until my family hit up Union Square.

Originally Posted by JManc

That Union Square Macy's was cool. When my wife was in town to visit, we'd hit up the Cheesecake Factory on the top floor.

We used to go there a lot as middle/high schoolers too. Nice views overlooking Union Square. Hopefully whatever replaces it retains the outdoor terrace seating. There was also Niketown, FAO Schwarz, Virgin Megastore, and the Metreon with its Playstation Store had just opened nearby as well. It was like the precursor to today's Apple Store but with Sony stuff in a very 90s aesthetic. Lots of cool stuff to see and do during that era.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by homebucket

We used to go there a lot as middle/high schoolers too. Nice views overlooking Union Square. Hopefully whatever replaces it retains the outdoor terrace seating. There was also Niketown, FAO Schwarz, Virgin Megastore, and the Metreon with its Playstation Store had just opened nearby as well. It was like the precursor to today's Apple Store but with Sony stuff in a very 90s aesthetic. Lots of cool stuff to see and do during that era.

There was also a three-story Borders with a cafe right on the square that stayed open until midnight. When I lived on Taylor at Geary I spent a lot of time in Borders, mostly reading magazines (lol!) for free.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Macy's is on a cutting spree again. Here are the downtown/urban locations that the company just announced will be closing:

750 W 7th St. (Los Angeles)
414 K St. (Sacramento)
422 Fulton St. (Brooklyn)
88-01 Queens Blvd. (Queens)
1300 Market St. (Philadelphia)

The Macy's stores in downtown Brooklyn and Philadelphia's Market Street are located in historic buildings that are more than 100 years old. It's also interesting that the downtown Brooklyn location has struggled while the retail district around it is the strongest it has been in probably 70 years.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/10/business/macys-closes-66-stores-list/index.html

Interesting story I have about the closure announced today in KC, in the "northland" part of the city. FYI, locals around KC call "northland" the part of KCMO north of the river.

Literally four years ago (maybe even five?) very shortly after Macy's closed their store in the Independence Center mall (which had been my go-to Macy's store, it was only a 10 minute drive from my house), I went to the next-nearest store to me in Lee's Summit. I was talking to a sales clerk there about how I was disappointed they closed the store in Independence. She told me she had been told that - guess what? - they were also going to close the store we were at in Lee's Summit as well as the store in KC northland.

Lo and behold, about a year or two later they did indeed close the store in Lee's Summit.

But they didn't close the store in KC northland. In fact I was there just 2 or 3 weeks ago to buy something. For the last 3 or 4 years I had been holding out hope that this sales clerk may have been wrong, and that they would decide to leave the northland store open. At least there was still one Macy's store open on the Missouri side of the metro (there are 2 in Kansas).

So when they announced the newest closures yesterday, I just had to check their list to see if the northland store was on the list.

Guess what? It was.

In other words, four or five years ago this sales clerk knew that two particular stores would be closed a year or two hence, and four or five years hence.

Next time you read about some particular store closing, you can assume that its closure had been planned long before the actual announcement.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by homebucket

We used to go there a lot as middle/high schoolers too. Nice views overlooking Union Square. Hopefully whatever replaces it retains the outdoor terrace seating. There was also Niketown, FAO Schwarz, Virgin Megastore, and the Metreon with its Playstation Store had just opened nearby as well. It was like the precursor to today's Apple Store but with Sony stuff in a very 90s aesthetic. Lots of cool stuff to see and do during that era.

Those Sony Style stores were way cooler than Apple.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Macys Herald Square isn't landmarked.

According to Wikipedia, it's listed on the NRHP, and has even been dedicated a National Historic Landmark. There are only around 2,500 NHL's in the entire country, so it's kind of a big deal in the preservation world.

That certainly doesn't mean it could never be ripped down, but it would take an entity willing to endure the hemisphere of bad PR that would be brought up them for tearing down a National Historic Landmark.


It appears that the Philly Macy's that's closing is also in one of these spectacular old retail cathedrals (the old Wanamaker's), and it is a National Historic Landmark as well, so while the store occupying it is closing, the building likely isn't going anywhere anytime soon.


As it becomes more clear that Macy's can't make a successful business operate out of them, the big issue for these gigantic old landmarked retail palaces will be finding ways for them to avoid becoming white elephants.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by craigs

Of all the nation's legacy downtown shopping districts, Union Square seems to have been the most decimated by e-commerce and COVID/post-COVID tourism declines. In just the last four years, dozens of big-name department and specialty stores have fled the area. It's shocking to see a once vibrant, world-class downtown shopping district disappear like that, and so quickly. Losing Macy's will be a real nail in Union Square's coffin.

I wonder why SF's Union Square has taken it so hard on the chin compared to its peers?

Chicago's Magnificent Mile lost its satellite Macy's several years ago during the height of the pandemic (Macy's decided to retreat to their grand old State Street store down in the loop, for now anyway), but the Midwest's premiere urban retail district is still anchored by 4 major department stores (Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, Nieman Marcus, and Sak's). It has certainly had its struggles, but they seem to be sorting themselves out as things continue to settle down from the Great Disruption. Not that everything is peachy, but at least words like "apocalypse" are no longer being casually thrown around.

[DCReid]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

I wonder why SF's Union Square has taken it so hard on the chin compared to its peers?

Chicago's Magnificent Mile lost its satellite Macy's several years ago during the height of the pandemic (Macy's decided to retreat to their grand old State Street store down in the loop, for now anyway), but the Midwest's premiere urban retail district is still anchored by 4 major department (Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, Nieman Marcus, and Sak's). It has certainly had its struggles, but they seem to be sorting themselves out as things continue to settle down from the Great Disruption. Not that everything is peachy, but at least words like "apocalypse" are no longer being casually thrown around.

My gut feeling with Union Square is that SF's homeless issue drove many shoppers to stop coming to downtown. I thought Macy's decision to abandon the Chicago Mag Mile store was a stupid one given the high traffic in that area. The Loop is (unfortunately) mostly a ghost town compared to the Mag mile, and many shoppers are not going out of their way to go to the loop when they can shop on the wonderful Mag Mile. Like someone said earlier, Macys should have keep 2 or 3 of the regional brands at least in name rather than converting every store name to Macys. Someone said that in some shopping malls, there was two Macys once they bought out the local department store.