Large department store to close 65 stores by January 2025, up from 50

Department store giant Macy’s plans to close 65 stores by the end of January 2025 and add another 15 stores to the list of closures.

It was previously reported that the retail giant would be closing around 50 stores, but that number has since increased. On a December 11 call received by Varied foolsaid Adrian Mitchell, Macy’s chief financial officer and chief operating officer, that the current “dealmaking market” is quite favorable.

“On the real estate side, during the quarter we recognized $66 million in capital gains, reflecting the carry forward of select deals into the third quarter from the fourth quarter,” Mitchell said. “The deal-making environment remains favorable. As Tony mentioned, we now expect to close about 65 locations this year, up from our previous expectation of 55 and 50 at the beginning of the year.”

These stores are included in the brand’s recent decision to close about 150 underperforming locations by 2026. Macy’s has not yet disclosed which stores will close, but it did reveal that the closings will occur after the holiday season.

The company has 479 department stores and 24 smaller stores, along with Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury cosmetics properties.

The full Q3 earnings report was delayed last month after it was revealed that a Macy’s employee intentionally hid up to $154 million in expenses, as reported by Syracuse.com.

Tony Spring, Macy’s CEO, stated that the investigation into this employee is now closed.

“Our investigation is now complete,” Spring said. “We have determined that the individual responsible for the issue intentionally made erroneous accounting entries beginning in Q4 2021 and subsequent periods, acted alone and did not pursue these actions for personal gain. As noted in our press release this morning, we have concluded that these erroneous entries had an immaterial impact on our cumulative financial results and no impact on our liquidity as all suppliers were fully paid.”

Even with this, Spring stated that the company is well underway with its “Bold New Chapter Strategy” and its stores have performed well in the third quarter.

“We now have three quarters of our three-year Bold New Chapter strategy in the books and three consecutive quarters of sales growth and improved Net Promoter Scores, leading to our third consecutive quarter of positive comps in Macy’s First 50 locations and Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury also positive in the third quarter.”

Spring went on to say that all of their stores are doing well and that this new plan will bring them closer to a “more profitable Macy’s Inc.”

“All of our nameplates are well positioned for growth, supported by end-to-end operations that deliver customer-facing benefits and cost savings, as well as improve enterprise-wide inventory management,” said Spring. “While we still have work to do, we believe our Bold New Chapter initiatives, including the closure of approximately 65 non-go-forward locations this year, bring us even closer to our go-forward end state of become a more profitable Macy’s, Inc.”

There are 22 Macy’s stores in Pa., but it’s unclear if any will close in the next two years.