Macy’s Will Close 150 Stores but Expand Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury
Summary
The moves put the stamp of the company’s new chief executive, Tony Spring, on an effort to keep the largest department store operator in the United States profitable and stave off a pending takeover bid. The overhaul is intended to “accelerate our path to market share gains, sustainable, profitable growth and value creation for our shareholders,” Mr. Spring, who took over this month, said in a statement. Customer research showed that people wanted a better shopping experience at Macy’s, the company said, whether with improved visual merchandising or more help from store workers. In January, a memo to employees from him and the departing chief executive, Jeff Gennette, said the company would cut about 2,300 jobs, or 13 percent of its corporate work force, as it looked to better align its resources with customer behavior and to make decisions faster. Sales at both Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s were down from a year earlier, while those at Bluemercury rose 2.3 percent — a sign that shoppers are gravitating toward the beauty and skin-care categories.