Macy’s, the struggling department store chain, is planning another round of store closings and job cuts.
The company said that it would close about 125 of its least productive stores in the next three years and also cut about 2,000 of its corporate and support function positions, according to a statement on Tuesday. The company said it was not clear how many additional jobs would be lost because of the store closures. Jeff Gennette, Macy’s chief executive, first announced the news in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
Macy’s, which also owns Bloomingdale’s and the off-price Macy’s Backstage chain, has been working to adjust its enormous brick-and-mortar portfolio to suit the shopping habits of today’s consumers. In 2016, the company announced plans to shutter 100 stores, which it later said would include the elimination of more than 10,000 jobs.
The 125 stores will be in “lower tier” malls, Macy’s said, highlighting the widening chasm between America’s best and worst malls as a variety of chains trim their store portfolios in the digital age. Macy’s said it would elaborate on the announcements at a meeting with investors on Wednesday.
Mr. Gennette was appointed chief executive in 2017 and has been tasked with ushering Macy’s, the biggest department store chain in the United States, into the modern day.
He said on Tuesday that even as Macy’s closes some stores, it would expand Macy’s Backstage — which is aiming to compete with chains like T.J. Maxx — and test Market by Macy’s, a new format that will be smaller than a typical Macy’s store and carry the chain’s merchandise, as well as local goods and food. The new chain will open outside of malls in so-called lifestyle centers, with a first location arriving in Dallas on Thursday.
The company also said that it would move key Macys.com operations from San Francisco to its corporate headquarters in New York, to better align the online business with the brands that work with the department store.
“We will focus our resources on the healthy parts of our business, directly address the unhealthy parts of the business and explore new revenue streams,” Mr. Gennette, who is also Macy’s chairman, said in the statement.
As of Nov. 21, the company said that it had 636 Macy’s stores, 38 Bloomingdale’s locations, 19 Bloomingdale’s Outlet locations and 171 Bluemercury stores. Most of its more than 200 Macy’s Backstage locations are inside of existing Macy’s stores.
The company said that some of the 636 Macy’s locations were counted twice based on men’s stores and home stores. It expects to have 400 Macy’s stores in all after this round of closings.