Macy's has lined up 55 stores for closure this year

Macy's has upped the number of stores that it is closing this year, as it attempts to revamp its dwindling business. 

The troubled retailer announced in February that it would shut 150 underperforming stores over the next three years - with 50 shuttering by the end of 2024. 

But the company now expects to close 55 locations by the end of the year, as part of its cost-saving plan. 

Macy's has yet to announce exactly which stores will be affected, but employees are speculating whether their location could be on the chopping block.

Like many department stores, Macy's has been suffering from dwindling sales amid the stratospheric rise of online rivals and the demise of America's suburban malls.

During Macy's latest earnings call, chief financial officer Adrian Mitchell said that the company is 'very pleased with the progress' that it is making in selling off its bricks and mortar stores to landlords and developers.

'We're very pleased with the value we're able to unlock in those deals and those transactions,' he said.

The company appointed a new CEO, Tony Spring, earlier this year, who announced a major turnaround effort.

This includes closing more than a third of stores - leaving just 350 nationwide by 2026 - and focusing more on its luxury offerings Bloomingdale's and Bluemercury.

It also closed five further locations in January, and laid off over 2,000 workers.  

Although Macy's has not detailed which stores are set to close, some employees have begun questioning which locations could be in the firing line on Reddit. 

On a thread titled 'MacysStores' workers have speculated that a store in Newington, New Hampshire, one in Traverse City, Michigan, and one in WestShore Plaza mall in Tampa, Florida, are set to close after the holidays.

Retail expert Neil Saunders said that some locations have been 'left to rot' and have been showing signs of neglect.  

'The biggest things that have gone wrong at Macy's are the quality of the stores and the product assortment, Saunders, an analyst at GlobalData Retail, told DailyMail.com earlier this year. 

'And so over the years customers have deserted it, sales have tumbled and store productivity has gone down. All the metrics have gone in the wrong direction.'

It comes after the company scrapped talks in July with two investors trying to buy out the chain. 

Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital Management had offered to buy the chain for $6.9 billion, but Macy's said the deal was not in the best interest of shareholders.  

Macy's said at the time that the offer was not 'compelling' or an 'actionable proposal' because the investor group does not have sufficient financing. 

The investors had considered spinning off Macy's real estate assets or separating its online operations from struggling brick-and-mortar stores, CNN reported. 

In recent decades, investor groups have bought under-performing retailers in a bid to take them private and improve their operations.

Macy's is one of many to shut stores this year amid a widespread 'retail apocalypse' that has seen brick-and-mortar stores struggle to combat rampant theft and increasingly tight margins.

There were almost 2,600 store closures in the first four months of 2024. If that trend continues, almost 8,000 will have been lost by the end of the year.

In recent months, Walmart has closed three more of its underperforming locations. Best Buy closed ten in March.

Dollar stores have been hit hard too, with 99 Cents Only announcing in April it would shutter all 371 of its locations across California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada. 

The 1,000 closures of Family Dollar and its sister company Dollar Tree will happen over the next three years. 

Express - a mall staple - filed for bankruptcy in April and said it would shut 95 Express outlets alongside all of its UpWest stores.    

At the start of May, Rue21 - the teen fashion chain that is a fixture in malls across America -  also said it will shut all  its 543 US stores after going bust.

Badcock Home Furniture & More said at the end of July it is closing all its 380 stores dotted around the South after it fell into bankruptcy earlier this year.

And last week, it merged that Big Lots is shutting 315 stores across multiple states as its financial woes worsen.