Macy's closing 4 Downtown stores across US

[Urbannizer]

The Macy's building in Downtown Houston came down today. It will be replaced by an office tower w/ ground floor retail. No renderings yet.

• Video Link

• Video Link

One street the now demolished Macy's building was bounded by will be the center of a new retail district planned for downtown. As the city adds new residents and hotels to the area, retail will expand as tax incentives will be set in place to attract business. It's expected to be complete by July 2015.







You can read more about the plan here: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=9251844

http://www.downtownhouston.org/site_medi...ask_Force_Report_Sept_12_2013_ONLINE.pdf

[dc_denizen]

Excellent, the more of downtown Houston's fortress architecture is replaced or renovated with this aesthetic the better.

[Kenneth]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

amazing that it can make more economic sense to tear this structure down, then to build on one of downtown Houston's many surface lots.

Why would they need an office tower there?

[mhays]

Maybe it's a good sign....is this closer to transit, shops, etc., than the easier sites? Filling parking lots is great, but it's also great to have high demand for the inner core.

[Jonboy1983]

That new retail district in Houston looks awesome! The more I think about it, the more I think that big box retail in downtown is going by the wayside. Town Centre-esque retail/mixed-use seems to be the "in" thing in terms of urban planning and design anymore, and it's been the case for at least the last 15 years or so...

That Macy's store really wasn't doing Houston any favors in terms of pedestrian activity. Yes, it was a retail destination, but customers were likely completely inside as opposed to going from store to store and contributing to the whole pedestrian scene.

[mhays]

A downtown should have both department stores and a lot of smaller stores. It still works in many cities.

[nei]

Originally Posted by Crawford

There are only like five cities in the U.S. with a healthy downtown environment for multiple department stores.

I guess only NYC, SF, Chicago, Boston, Seattle. There are many other cities with downtown department stores, but they're usually attached to malls, or quite small/downsized, or subsidized. And these are really the only cities with a broad mix of downtown stores (you might throw in Philly too; I'd say it's borderline because it has Walnut Street shopping, and a nice old Macys, but it's still not the main shopping game in the area).

For whatever reason, and with a few exceptions. the U.S. market isn't really into traditional downtown department store shopping.

What about San Francisco?

Originally Posted by fflint

Daytrippers from the suburbs and nearby metros, overnighters from the rest of the country and foreign lands, office workers at lunchtime and evening rush, and local residents all drive successful downtown shopping districts like San Francisco's and Chicago's.

For NYC, for a large portion of the population, the center city shopping districts are more convenient and closer than any malls (and if you don't have a car, the latter aren't a good option anyway). Tourists and suburbanites, help of course.

[urbanactivist]

It's like we're making up for lost time and energy right now, just in a really big way. At the same time, it's great to see Houston forging it's own path to an urban city. The most important thing we can do right now is keep building connections. That's why the Dallas St. retail project is great, because it connects the active areas of downtown. Plus it's at the hub of the city's transit network at a time where more and more residents are interested in transit as an option.

I do want to say too for this blog...

It's hard to understand Houston's urban form without knowing something about the city's political history. Much of the catch up we're able to do right now is because we have a Mayor, City Council, and County Commissioner's Court that are much more forward-thinking, and much less in the pocket of wildcatter oilmen than ever before. Many people on SSP have just written Houstonians off as not wanting to improve the city's urban feel or infrastructure, but the sad truth is that in Texas, the same vocal minority that always shows up to the ballot kept electing Congressmen like Tom Delay, and they exercised "veto power" over things like the Light Rail plan in the 90s. Past politicians did everything they could to keep the auto-centric, anything goes experiment going. I don't mean to start any political arguments on here, but it needs to be mentioned.

Anyway, it's a great time to be in Houston. Stay tuned.

[eternallyme]

Macy's is struggling right now facing a squeeze from both upscale and downscale, correct?

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

Macy's is struggling right now facing a squeeze from both upscale and downscale, correct?

Macys is doing extremely well right now. Macys Corp. includes Bloomingdales, so has higher end too.

[inSaeculaSaeculorum]

I wish they would blow up the Macy's in downtown Los Angeles

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by inSaeculaSaeculorum

I wish they would blow up the Macy's in downtown Los Angeles

just got bought for 240 mil and the owner is putting in 160 million + to open it up and fully upgrade it

[photoLith]

Hopefully they redue that horrendous brutal exterior.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Hopefully they redue that horrendous brutal exterior.

It's almost as bad as the one just demolished.

[hammersklavier]

It's a shame how a single trollish post can kill a page of comments...

[L1011driver]

Luckily for the Downtown LA Macy's, it's on a busy street just south of the financial district and across the street from 4 rail lines and a few buses too. That picture looks like the back of the building. The front faces 7th street and it is a busy place (despite what the photo suggests). And there is a hotel either above it or connected to it.

[shadowbat2]

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll...108&Kategori=BIZ&Lopenr=301080119&Ref=AR

Macy’s also disclosed it will shutter five department stores – none of them in Greater Cincinnati – and open eight new locations.

The five stores to close are in Mesa, Ariz.; Overland Park, Kan.; Florissant, Mo.; Irondequoit, N.Y.; and Murray, Utah. Most of the stores will close within 11 weeks after clearance sales.

Collectively, they employ 412 workers.

Macy’s announced it also is opening five new stores in Sarasota, Fla.; Las Vegas; New York City; Miami; and Ponce, Puerto Rico. Three new Bloomingdale’s are going up in Honolulu, Miami and Palo Alto, Calif.,

Here's where the Macy's + Bloomingdale's in Miami are going:

source

[pdxstreetcar]

Macy's recently announced this year's round of store closures, among them:

-Downtown Spokane


Video: Historian explains Macy's importance to downtown Spokane - KREM

Video: Filling the Macy's building will take time and renovation - KREM

As Macy's prepares to close in Downtown Spokane, many people cited the cost of parking as a reason they avoid Downtown. And why it may be the #1 reason on this list, the complaints did not stop there. Not everyone was shocked as many shoppers wrote online that the cost of parking is why they avoid shopping in that area. What keeps you from shopping Downtown?
Video: Shoppers blame parking cost for skipping Downtown stores - KREM

Meanwhile Downtown Spokane has a Nordstrom, Williams Sonoma and Apple store among others.

Plus somewhat of a downtown location is in this recent closure list:
Ardmore, PA - Suburban Square


Also the Downtown Pittsburgh Macy's store recently closed or is about to close.

Not too many downtown department stores remaining, I remember compiling a list when I first joined SSP (~2003) and a good number have closed since then. It really is now just the largest and most urban American cities with only a few rare exceptions.

Macy's and the few other standard department store chains remaining nationwide seem really good at not investing in their downtown stores with store upgrades and instead leaving them in a rundown neglected state. As a result store sales suffer and surprise, surprise they shut the store. I suspect this is actually more the situation for closure than cries of paying $3 to park.

[wanderer34]

Sometimes I wish that we still had marshall Field's in Chicago, Hecht's in DC, Filene's in Boston, Burdine's in Miami, and Strawbridge's in Philly. the current mace's Macy's as it is ain't nothing more that a shell of it's former self. It can't compete with the Neiman Marcus' Nordstroms, and Lord and Taylor's of the world and it was never meant to be an upper echelon luxury store. It was simply New York's department store, with stores as far away as SF and LA.

It's not even a NYC company anymore. It's based in Cincinnati. So it's a symbol of American arrogance and American glutton of wanting American cities to be "like NYC" when cities like Pittsburgh (Kaufmann's) and St Louis (Famous-Barr) should strive to be themselves and not carbon copies of NYC!!! Walmart is the largest retailer in America and they're based in Arkansas and I don't have any problem with Walmart, but I have a problem with the fact that cities and American society in general have sold their souls to the devil in order to conform and think that a department store like Macy's is haute-couture, when it's just another store in NYC and our shopping habits are proof of our conformity.

[the urban politician]

^ I really wouldn't mind Macy's on State St in Chicago closing. As long as the building remains and some key elements of it (Walnut Room, etc). The space can be redeveloped into a hotel, or a combination hotel/tech office space with commercial space at the base.

When Marshall Fields was removed, I think most people stopped caring.