Announced today, 100 more within the next year. Are those upper-echelon corporate managers as stupid as they appear to me? What affect upon employees do these leaders think such a dire announcement will have? Do they think folks will work harder, more diligently, treating customers better than they did before this announcement? Or, is it aimed at appeasing the creditors? Yeah, everyone will work all the harder to ensure their store will be spared. Uh huh! Business degrees no doubt teach "managers" what to do, right. Including thinking outside of the real world in which their business is failing. How many times have we heard "Our employees are our business"? Or, is it me? Expecting large, consumer-dependent companies to utilize basic reason and logic during ALL times, good as well as bad. My belief is that during the coming year, Macy's business may be counted on to see continued failure, much of it related to employees reacting predictably to this announcement, many leaving the company, and few folks seeking a good, steady job not willing to sign on with a "loser". Or, is it me? Frank
Oh, oh, a big company going bankrupt? And why so, is it really bad business or is it losing to competition particularly to the online stores? Even here, people are turning to online stores for their clothing and other home needs. Online shopping is an advantage for lazy people or for those residing in the suburbs (like me) who needed to brave the heavy traffic on the roads in order to go to the mall. There was one department store which was the most popular when I was young. The name is COD Department Store which has the best Christmas display in town. It is located in Quezon City which was a booming city of Metro Manila during those days. Unfortunately, it closed shop for unknown reasons (the owners did not reveal). That department store was already a landmark and it's really a big loss to the country since its Christmas display was already part of our culture.
Very surprised to hear this as we know of Macy's Department stores over here We have the same problem and internet shopping certainly plays a hand - such a shame it is
It seems like Walmart is re-thinking what size of stores they want to have. One that was just down the road from us closed; but they built a new and larger one not very far from where the old one was; so that must have been better for them than just updating the old one. The new one is a Super Walmart, with the large grocery section, and the old one was just the regular size and a few groceries. Down the other direction from us, Walmart is building another store, this one is one of the smaller Neighborhood Markets, which is supposed to be more like a large dollar store size. We have heard that it will just be groceries, and also that it will have other items, and will actually be more like a dollar store; so until it opens, we will just have to guess and wait and see. If it is a small Walmart, that will be nice, since it is closer than the super Walmart, and hopefully, less people and easier parking. It is supposed to be open in October.
Parking never is an issue here even though we have about 500,000 population. Think it's because every zipcode has every store in triplicate and I would say walgreens and CVS have even more.
They did the same thing in Bangor, Maine a couple of years ago. They wanted to expand their smaller store but the planning board wouldn't approve a permit so they closed it and built a new, much larger store, a few blocks away. I think they'll be keeping their small stores for the small towns that they are in. Millinocket doesn't have a Walmart but some other towns the same size do. I don't like Walmart stores and it doesn't have anything to do with the "big box store" nonsense. It seems to me that the quality of so much of what they carry isn't very high, and the prices aren't that low. If I want cheap, I'll go to a Dollar Store, except that I don't like them either. Now that we have a BJ's store in Bangor, I've quit Sam's Club too.
@Yvonne Smith - Oh you have 'dollar stores' over there, we have '£ shops' here and is certainly another reason for the bigger stores having to re-think. The large Tesco stores here are downsizing too I read somewhere on the forum, that you also have Aldi stores and of course they have shaken things up a bit haven't they ..............
We have had Aldi for a while; but they seem to be expanding more now. I also think that they are offerering more of the discount prces than they did before, @Patsy Faye . They were always competitive on items like milk, bread and eggs; but this last time, the prices were a whole LOT cheaper than anywhere else, and not just a few pennies cheaper per item. The needing to have a quarter for the shopping cart, and having to bring your own bags has always been an incovenience, too; but with the prices this much lower, people will probably not mind having to bag up their own groceries. We have two large grocery bags that @Ina I. Wonder gave us when she was here for the visit, and they hook on the sides of the shopping cart, and then they have handles for carrying them. We use these all of the time for shopping trips to Sam's Club, and now we also use them for Aldi's shopping. We can load the groceries in the shopping bags, take the shopping cart out to the car, and Bobby loads the bags into the back of the station wagon. It works perfect. They would be too heavy for me to carry myself; but Bobby does not have any trouble carrying the large bags, and I just hurry ahead and get doors open for him. Dollar Stores are great for most quick trips where you just need 1-2 things and do not want to fight your way through Walmart traffic. The Dollar Tree is even better, because things there are always only one dollar.
Over here, at last - they charge for plastic bags now, we have bags in the car I would rather they used paper bags, only one shop does that I know of and the paper is very sturdy, so a much better option
@Ken Anderson "I don't like Walmart stores and it doesn't have anything to do with the "big box store" nonsense. My neighbor in Missouri always expressed dislike for Wal-Mart, but for his own reason. He believed Sam Walton destroyed the ability of "Mom & Pop" owned businesses to survive in America. They were the original "back-bone" of the American retail business culture, he felt. I did not disagree with him on that, but did on just about everything else....... Frank
If Walmart hadn't done it, someone else would have. On the positive side, they are the biggest employer for several small towns that don't have anything else, and they keep people from having to drive several miles to another town. I wish they had continued buying American, as was Sam Walton's policy while he was alive. Here, we don't have a Walmart or any other "big box" store, unless you count the Tractor Supply Company store. Instead, we have two local hardware stores, one of which closes at 4 pm on weekdays and at noon on Saturday, which is hardly helpful when it comes to anyone who works for a living, and the owner of the other hardware store is so rude that I refuse to shop there.
@Frank Sanoica , I think mom and pop stores were destroyed before Walmart came into the act. In Pittsburgh there were already stores like Grants and Woolworth's. My clothes were all from Gimbels and Kaufmanns department stores as a child and teen and our food was from the A&P. We still had bakeries and I think one is still alive and well after all these years on Brookline Blvd. in Pittsburgh. We also had Isalys where we went for ice cream but don't think that was a mom and pop store either but it sure brings back fond memories. Even Drug stores were chains already, Rexall Drugs that sold everything under the sun just like Walgreens does now. What we didn't have until I moved to Chicago were Malls.
I feel bad for Macy's. I got my toaster oven last year at the Macy's in the Short Pump towncenter. It was a steal because it was heavily discounted, and then it had a rebate on it as well. I think that particular store is staying open, but several of the Macy's stores in the surrounding areas are closing. I think even malls and so forth are hurting for customers, due to the popularity of online shopping. I know they are always having special events, and giving away giftcards to get people to come in.
I used to like Macy's but haven't been in one in awhile. I only shop malls with my daughter and she shops Nordstroms for the most part and since she always insists I get something, so do I. Always on sale though. We used to shop Loft but that's gotten crappy. She orders online a lot but from stores she frequents like Nordstrom And a few others that aren't dept stores like Tory Burch and Lululemon for workout clothes. Also Banana Republic and J. crew and Anthropologie.