Macy’s department store at Peachtree Mall is a survivor once again

Coming off a year in which the Columbus-Phenix City market lost its longtime Sears department store and its remaining three Kmart stores in one fell swoop, there came some welcome news Thursday.

Deep in a press release from Cincinnati-based Macy’s Inc., the news was the absence of one local name on a list of store closures planned this year by the department store retailer. There was no mention of Peachtree Mall, the Columbus shopping center on Manchester Expressway that has been home to a Macy’s store since 2003. It opened as Rich’s in 2002, then converted to Macy’s.

More: Store-closing ax doesn’t touch the Macy’s store at Peachtree Mall

Locations experiencing the budget ax were scattered in California, Florida and in the upper U.S. One noteworthy casualty, in particular — and showing that nothing in the retail world is sacred — is the pending closure of a large flagship Macy’s store at Fountain Place in downtown Cincinnati. It is one of about 100 underperforming outlets the company announced in mid-2016 that it plans to shutter over time. The liquidation sales start Monday.

On top of the closures, the retailer said Thursday it also expects to adjust staffing, with some employee headcounts rising and others declining, along with other “streamlining” in some non-store functions. And while it will spend about $160 million to eliminate the brick-and-mortar locations, Macy’s projects annual cost savings of $300 million in its 2018 fiscal year. For context, the company racked up nearly $26 billion in sales in 2016.

The drastic move — and no one can truly dispute that closing 100 stores isn’t just that — is primarily about changing consumer habits, with shoppers doing more and more business with their fingertips and mouses at home or at work, or perhaps on the go with their smartphones, Macy’s Chief Executive Officer Jeff Gennette said in a statement. Faster execution is the buzzword in the retail industry as a whole as the online tsunami washes over its physical footprint.

“Our primary focus in 2017 has been to continue the strong growth of digital and mobile, stabilize our brick & mortar business and set the foundation for future growth,” the CEO said. “We’ve made good progress on each, including encouraging trend improvements in our brick-and-mortar business. A healthy store base combined with robust digital capabilities is Macy’s recipe for success. Looking ahead to 2018, we are focused on continuous improvement and will take the necessary steps to move faster, execute more effectively and allocate resources to invest in growth.”

So, yes, the Macy’s department store at Peachtree Mall has dodged yet another bullet but certainly is not out of danger. The current Macy’s store closures will raise the total thus far to 81. That means there are at least 19 more locations — somewhere across the United States and out of 700 total Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s still operating — that will experience the same fate as their deceased predecessors.

“The company intends to close approximately 19 additional stores as leases or operating covenants expire or sale transactions are completed,” Macy’s said in its release, noting it actually has eliminated 124 locations altogether since 2015.

Could the Macy’s at Peachtree Mall be on the chopping block at some point? Anything is possible, but hopefully the local store was swamped by shoppers and performed well enough to put it at the bottom of any budget-cutting list, rather than near the top. After all, it already has proven to be a survivor, as has the JCPenney department store in Columbus, with that retailer also shutting down locations last year. The two retailers also are bookend anchors for the shopping center, and the loss of either would be painful to loyal shoppers and the city’s sales tax base.

Muscogee County tax assessor records show the Macy’s department store space is 138,938 square feet. The market value of the property, which also has been home to a Montgomery Ward department store, is about $6.5 million. Peachtree Mall’s parent company bought the mall from the State of California Public Employees’ Retirement System in April 2003 and has leased space to tenants, including Macy’s, since then. Only department store company Dillard’s owns its space in the mall.

That said, here’s the list of the dearly departing Macy’s locations in the current round of cuts:

▪ Laguna Hills Mall — Laguna Hills, Calif.

▪ Westside Pavilion — Los Angeles, Calif.

▪ Novato (furniture) — Novato, Calif.

▪ Stonestown Galleria — San Francisco, Calif.

▪ The Oaks — Gainesville, Fla.

▪ Miami (downtown) — Miami, Fla.

▪ Magic Valley Mall — Twin Falls, Idaho

▪ Honey Creek Mall — Terre Haute, Ind.

▪ Birchwood Mall —Fort Gratiot Township, Mich.

▪ Fountain Place — Cincinnati, Ohio

▪ Burlington Town Center — Burlington, Vt.

This story was originally published January 4, 2018 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Macy’s department store at Peachtree Mall is a survivor once again."