The Macy’s department store at the Ballston Quarter mall will close — along with four other store closings across the U.S. — with liquidation sales beginning this month and running for eight to 12 weeks.
Macy’s announced the store closures as part of a restructuring that also includes the elimination of 2,300 jobs, most of them corporate.
“At Macy’s, we continue to reposition our store fleet to better meet the needs of our customers in each of our markets. After careful consideration we have decided to close our Macy’s Ballston store,” the company said in an emailed statement. “As we prepare to deploy a new strategy to meet the needs of an ever-changing consumer and marketplace, we made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce by 3.5% to become a more streamlined company.”
The Ballston closing was imminent before this week’s announcement. Arlington County approved developer plans to replace it with a mixed-use development that will include new retail and apartments. The exact date of its closure was unclear before Macy’s announcement this week.
The Ballston Macy’s, originally a Hecht’s department store, opened long before the Ballston Metro and high rises transformed the area.
Macy’s has not yet reported fourth-quarter results, which include the holiday season, but its third-quarter sales were down 7% from a year earlier. Macy’s has announced store closings several times since the onset of the pandemic in 2020.
Macy’s has a dozen other stores in the D.C. region. It also owns Bloomingdale’s and acquired D.C.-based cosmetics chain Bluemercury in 2016.
Other Macy’s store closings include locations in California, Florida and Hawaii.
While Macy’s is closing more traditional department stores, it announced plans last fall to open up to 30 smaller format stores, mostly in strip malls.
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