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Who really cares if Macy's closes? There are a jillion other department stores, all the same stuff, different names.
Bingo!
Except for the loss of jobs for their employees, I can't see where the lives of most people would be impacted by the closure of one, or more, Macy's locations. Just as almost every mall has the same assortment of stores, Macy's is not unique in regard to their merchandise.
On a humorous note, I used to know a woman who lived in Florida, and who bought almost everything at her local Sears store. When she would visit NJ, she made it a point to visit one or more Sears stores in our state, and when she visited folks in NY state, she made it a habit to troll the Sears stores there--all in the interest of "seeing what they carry".
Somehow, she never seemed to figure out that--other than the exact placement of the merchandise--there was no difference in merchandise from one Sears store to another.
Please accept my apologies for this belated response to the insightful posts that you folks have written.
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It's hard to imagine that they would opt to keep the Macy's at Woodbridge Center open when there is a larger--and much busier--Macy's about 4 miles away in Menlo Park Mall.
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I could see the Macy's in Paramus Park shutting down. You have the larger Macy's in nearby Garden State Plaza. However, many people avoid GSP and prefer PP. Bergen County is an anomaly though. In an age where you hear brick&mortar is dying, you would never believe it if you go to any of the malls in Bergen County. They are congested even on weekdays with horrendous traffic always in the immediate vicinity.
I always thought that the Preakness Macy's (a tiny store located very close to the Willowbrook Mall) and the location at Voorhees Town Center (which is a dead mall) were the two stores NJ Macy's stores most likely to close. I honestly don't know how well (or poorly) the Moorestown Mall is doing, though that center has never achieved the popularity of the nearby Cherry Hill Mall.
I haven't been to the Woodbridge Center in a very long time, so I can't attest to the health of that mall (even though I know that its popularity pales in comparison to the Menlo Park Mall). It's interesting that back in 1995, when A&S (Abraham & Straus) was renamed Macy's, the top management of Macy's opted not to operate a store at Woodbridge Center. (Instead, the A&S location was sold to Sears.) It was only in 2001, when the Stern's name was dropped (in favor of Macy's), that Macy's finally decided to operate at that mall.
I'm not that surprised that the Paramus Park Mall Macy's (a former A&S) is staying open. I figured as much when part of that building became a "Macy's Backstage" store last year. (Such a move wouldn't have occurred if Macy's was planning on closing the Paramus Park location.) Also, it's my understanding (as I'm not from that area) that Paramus Park Mall attracts a different clientele than the Garden State Plaza; many who frequent Paramus Park don't like the large crowds and the super-upscale (and expensive) stores that characterize the Garden State Plaza. Similarly, I'm not surprised that the Livingston Mall store is staying open, because that mall has an entirely different customer base than the nearby Short Hills Mall.
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Has anyone been to any of the stores that are expected to close? Wondering if they're offering discounts on items throughout the store.
I'm not sure if this is accurate, but I read that the store closing sales will begin on January 9 and will run for approximately eight to twelve weeks.
Bingo!
Except for the loss of jobs for their employees, I can't see where the lives of most people would be impacted by the closure of one, or more, Macy's locations. Just as almost every mall has the same assortment of stores, Macy's is not unique in regard to their merchandise.
On a humorous note, I used to know a woman who lived in Florida, and who bought almost everything at her local Sears store. When she would visit NJ, she made it a point to visit one or more Sears stores in our state, and when she visited folks in NY state, she made it a habit to troll the Sears stores there--all in the interest of "seeing what they carry".
Somehow, she never seemed to figure out that--other than the exact placement of the merchandise--there was no difference in merchandise from one Sears store to another.
I totally agree with what you have written, Retriever. I have long hated how Macy's axed so many beloved local department store names; in NJ alone, we saw how Macy's got rid of the Bamberger's, A&S, Stern's, and Strawbridge's nameplates.
In response to the discussion over how the Paramus malls have always been so crowded, I though that you folks would enjoy this old local news clip (circa-1985) that shows the Garden State Plaza:
Macy's around Woodbridge and Menlo Park still get pretty good foot traffic by the increasing Indian population in the surrounding area. They love Macy's coupons. I hate buying stuff at Macy's because someone in front of me is trying to get coupons working.
What I fail to understand about Macys is why they don't fully embrace the web. Their site is garbage compared to many competitors....and it's not like the B&M locations are setting the world on fire with terrible service, technology, appearance, selection, inventory..... This is the 21st century with Amazon kicking their butts here...why not at least have a decent website to drive traffic...I mean I just went to B&M Nordstrom rack last week and they had Ipads with a credit card reader attachment that the clerk could jump line to line to alleviate wait times. Then you look at Macys and their terrible 1985 tech registers and you can't help but laugh.....
Then they took their house brands like Charter Club and jacked up prices to that of name brand competitors to the point that they are no longer a bargain....makes no sense....
Have you check out Amazon's site for clothing? It is not exactly appealing or easy to search. The website is not designed for clothing. Amazon tend to spam you with different products and never give you exactly what you're looking for. Macy's simply giving you an experience and then hoping you go to the store and buy a bunch of stuff you don't need.
Have you check out Amazon's site for clothing? It is not exactly appealing or easy to search. The website is not designed for clothing. Amazon tend to spam you with different products and never give you exactly what you're looking for. Macy's simply giving you an experience and then hoping you go to the store and buy a bunch of stuff you don't need.
It's easy when you know what you are looking for. I found a ski jacket that I really liked in Neiman Marcus. They wanted $1200 for it. I found the same exact jacket on Amazon from a 3rd party seller (a coat store in VT) for $575. Since then, I still go to the stores to find what I like in person, but I always check Amazon on my phone before buying just about anything in the stores.
and the location at Voorhees Town Center (which is a dead mall) were the two stores NJ Macy's stores most likely to close. I honestly don't know how well (or poorly) the Moorestown Mall is doing, though that center has never achieved the popularity of the nearby Cherry Hill Mall.
The interesting thing is that all three malls are so close by to each other. So, it's one thing if macy's closes one of them, but two stores (Voorhees and Moorestown) so close to each other has a great impact (job losses, perceptions of the chain).
It will give the impression that Macy's is dying more than right sizing, in the Camden-Burlington county area. When I lived in the wealthy side of Cherry Hill, the Moorestown and Voorhees stores were the closest major department stores.
But I'm not too surprised Macy's in Moorestown is closing either. It always seemed the parking lot had too many spaces and not enough cars parked in them, and the store was never as busy as Cherry Hill, Deptford or even Hamilton Mall in Mays Landing. It's only technically 3 miles from Cherry Hill, but the density and traffic lights add inconvenience. Moorestown was the convenient store to Burlington County. Now, anyone in Burlington County has to trek to Cherry Hill, and the CH Mall Macy's parking lot often lacks enough spots. The more available parking areas are away from the Macy's.
The Philly area will lose 4 Macy's. PREIT owns two affected malls, Moorestown and Plymouth Meeting, and my guess is PREIT will redevelop the Plymouth Meeting space first. An article in the Inquirer details PREIT ideas already at Plymouth Meeting.
The Moorestown space has interesting problems.
On one hand, the Macy's building is decent size (200,000 sq. ft) and built in 1999, and relatively new looking. It has great highway access and near high income towns. And there is Lord & Taylor right by the Macy's end. It's in some ways, ideal not to tear it down, where the other three closing Macy's were old time original Strawbridge & Clothier buildings built in the 1970's that are more obsolete and had served their time, well past their time.
And another problem is Sears holds the central spot of the mall. So, PREIT really needed Sears, the weaker chain, to have closed first, not Macy's first.
As you can see, macy's faces Route 38 and is visible from the other end of the mall. Lord & Taylor is the only anchor not facing Route 38 and was dependent on some macy's traffic possibly. When macy's closes, I wonder if Lord & Taylor benefits with possibly an uptick of customers that would have shopped at the macy's, or if it suffers with it being in a wing with a major dead anchor.
It should be noted that the H&M and Rue 21 are all brand new and by the macy's/ Lord & Taylor wing. PREIT has courted new fine dining restaurants on the mall property and they seem to be doing well.
Maggies at Livingston Mall was called Maggie's Pub. There was also a fantastic restaurant called Lori's, a turn of the century themed place, that served giant pickles when the mall first opened. Always a line outside of Lori's. The Hong Kong Shop was upstairs just to the left of Sears and was a fun and unique store. There was a really good Pizza place downstairs just to the right of Sears. I also remember Puppy Palace (where we got our fist dog), Ed's Aquarium (which had a fish shaped entrance and real snapper turtles inside), K&B Toys, Herman's (a sporting goods store) and a store that sold organs. There was also a clothes store called Airport whose transparent plastic entrance was in the shape of giant plane. Back then Hahnes had three stories, the top floor being devoted to furniture. Hahnes never had a restaurant, but Bamberger's sure did on the second floor. They had both a fountain counter and a sit down restaurant. The food was excellent. Livingston Mall also hosted cultural events. I remember going to an orchestral concert in the courtyard in front of Hahnes. They also had huge display of a circus in miniature one day. That drew big crowds. It was a great mall back then.
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