For all the loyal customers of Macy’s stores, this news will be very disturbing. The company announced the closing of all stores except one, due to several reasons – but what does this mean for the company’s employees? Macy’s is currently experiencing downsizing – which means many employees will receive layoff notices, due to a permanent reduction of the retailer’s labour force. This devastating experience is scheduled to occur between 18-31 March 2025, which will leave hundreds of employees out of jobs.
Closure of Macy’s Stores: Impact on Employees
Over 200 employees will find themselves unemployed due to an expected downsizing at the retailer. The company is on the verge of layoffs which will affect stores in Lakeside (Sterling Heights) and Oakland (Troy). This big move is expected to occur next month (March). The stores in Sterling Heights in Lakeside consist of 117 employees and the Macy’s stores in Troy in Oakland, have 92 employees. Two warning notices have already been filed with the Michigan Department of Labour and Economic Opportunity.
The job losses will be a permanent aspect and the company’s Vice President of Human Resources, Allison Johnson, stated that none of the employees are represented in a union. As could be imagined, this will be an extremely difficult road for these employees. The Vice President further highlighted that no bumping rights exists for Macy’s colleagues. If the retailer decided to rehire an employee in the future, the service date, pay rate, and the benefits will be aligned to the then-existing policies and practices.
The reason behind Macy’s decision
This reduction in jobs is occurring after Macy’s Inc. made an announcement on 9 January 2025, to close five department stores. This is part of the aim to close 66 stores nationwide during this year. The company started with going-out-of-business sales in the various stores, and it is expected to run between 8-12 weeks. Additionally, in July 2024 the comapny’s store in Sterling Heights remained opened, while the rest of the mall closed down. This store was envisioned to remain open due to a proposed $1 billion revamping of the store’s property.
The names of these two Macy’s stores in Lakeside and Oakland, was on a list that contained 66 names of underproductive stores. These 66 underproductive stores were set out to close during 2025 and that is what is happening with this company’s stores in March. It is indicated on the company’s website that this decision came into place between is focus on:
- Returning the company to sustainable
- Focus on profitable sale growth: This includes closing about 150 stores over a period of three years
- Investing in the 350 remaining Macy’s stores through fiscal 2026.
What is next?
The developers working with the plans of the comapy’s downsizing process, are planning to destroy the mall where Marcy’s was located in Lakeside, in order to create a Town Center. This Town Center will comprise of:
- New Offices
- Apartments
- Retail Space
- A 120-room long hotel with parking decks attached to it
- Restaurants
- Recreational facilities
- and many more along Hall Road (M-59)
This is a lot to take in especially for the loyal consumers of Macy’s, but most importantly for the employees. Employees – who will now have to start from scratch, without any employment. The worst part is that the employees were not part of any union, while being employed by Macy’s. It does not look good for these employees. They will have to start looking for other employment opportunities since March 2025 is around the corner. The company did what it thought was best for the growth of the company, since many stores were underproductive – this seemed like the most effective and logical way forward.