US retailer Macy’s plans to close 100 shops

Macy’s, the largest department store chain in the US, plans to close more than 10 per cent of its stores in an effort to reverse years of sagging sales. The retailer said on Thursday as it announced its second-quarter earnings that it would shut 100 stores, mostly at the beginning of next year.

The closures come after Macy’s closed 41 stores in its previous fiscal year.

“We believe that this reduction of 100 locations in the short term will result in a more appropriate store portfolio for Macy’s in the longer term,” Macy’s president Jeffrey Gennette, who will succeed Terry J Lundgren as chief executive next year, said in a statement.

Pressure

Investors have been pressuring Macy’s to sell some of its properties as the company has struggled to attract shoppers to its vast footprint of bricks-and-mortar stores.

Macy’s said on Thursday that the 100 stores generated about $1 billion (€895m) in annual sales, but that some of the stores’ real estate was more valuable than their retail sales.

Macy's currently operates 728 stores. –(New York Times Service)