Macy’s Inc. is set to close six department stores during the first quarter this year.
The six are among the lowest-performing 125 doors the retailer earmarked for closure in 2020. The company planned 45 closures last year, with the balance of 51 to be closed by 2023.
The locations in Puente Hills, Calif., Streets at SouthGlenn in Colo., San Jacinto, Tex., Twenty Ninth Street, Colo., Lee’s Summit, Mo., and Brookwood Village, Ala. are expected to shut down between February and April.
Last year, UBS Securities analyst Michael Lasser projected that another 80,000 doors, including an estimated 21,000 in apparel, could shut down in the next five years as more consumers gravitate towards online shopping. Lasser expects mall-based locations will drive the bulk of the closures.
In 2021, retail closed nearly 5,080 doors, including about 4,108 in fashion. That’s down from the 11,060 closures in 2020, with most of those closures due to Covid-related bankruptcies and fleet adjustments.
One bit of good news was that fashion announced 2,920 openings in 2021. While that count doesn’t replace all the doors that fashion businesses are closing, at least it means they still believe that brick-and-mortar still has a key role in the retail landscape.
As for what to expect in 2022, there are rumblings that retail could see more store closures this year than in 2021, largely related to ongoing uncertainty around the pandemic as well as inflation that could stress retail balance sheets and curtail discretionary consumer spending.
Clean Design Home x Martex collection
Separately, Macy’s this week introduced the hypoallergenic Clean Design Home x Martex collection in stores, offering an assortment of asthma and allergy-fighting home textiles.
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“Robin Wilson brings a new level of expertise in the world of Clean Design and anti-allergen products that we have not explored up to now,” WestPoint Home CMO Regan Iglesia said of the Black female entrepreneur behind the home textiles label. “With Robin Wilson, we studied the market and believe that there is a need and desire for ‘better’ products in this category.”
WestPoint Home next plans to distribute the Clean Design Home x Martex bed and bath collection on its website, and expand its reach via a curated selection of department and specialty stores starting in spring 2022.
Consumers will find a minimalist palette of white, grey, light blue, ivory and blush in the collection of pillows, comforters, robes, towels, 400 thread-count sheet sets and duvets, and allergen-barrier utility options for mattress and pillow protection.
Each Clean Design Home x Martex product is made with Better Cotton Initiative cotton and certified as Made-in-Green by Oeko-Tex. Towels are made with Supima cotton-loop and low-linting, tightly woven bathrobes reduce the presence of airborne allergens, according to the brand.
The Clean Design Home x Martex collection, priced from $15 to $275, will be available online and at 165 U.S. doors, including Hawaii, Guam and Puerto Rico.