Macy’s to roll out smaller-format stores later this year

Macy’s has its eye on the future. Last week, the department store chain announced it will expedite the opening of three off-mall, smaller-format concepts this fall.

The new stores will be additional Market by Macy’s locations, which are part of an effort to reimagine the company’s store design so it's more in-line with shifting expectations. At those stores, customers can pay bills or pick up orders from the dedicated “At Your Service” desks inside.

• The company will also open its first dual Market by Macy’s and Macy’s Backstage store.

“We want to be convenient and we want to make it easy,” Marc Mastronardi, Macy’s chief stores officer, told CNBC. “Customer behavior just keeps changing. And the more that we have the agility as an organization to shift and react, this feels like the next natural evolution.”

Ch-ch-changes: Macy’s laid out a plan in February 2020 to close ~125 of its least-productive stores over the following three years, which the company said accounted for roughly $1.4 billion in 2020 sales.

• Chairman and CEO Jeff Gennette said that—at the time—while Macy’s had done a good job growing its top-line business over the past three years, there’s more work to be done on the bottom line.

Macy’s is also giving Toys “R” Us a new lease on life with plans to open shop-in-store at all locations. They’ll range from 1,000 to 10,000 square feet.

• The shops will open starting at the end of the month through October 15, just ahead of the holiday shopping season, an important time for retailers.

+1: Skin care brand Clinique has made itself at home, opening a new retail concept, The Lab, inside Macy’s Herald Square flagship in NYC.—KM