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Macy’s closing 40 stores nationwide, including Enfield location

ENFIELD – The pink slips are flying at Macy’s following a holiday season clouded by warm weather. Macy’s announced a major restructuring of th...
Macy’s

ENFIELD – The pink slips are flying at Macy’s following a holiday season clouded by warm weather.

Macy’s announced a major restructuring of the company on Wednesday, which will include the closure of 40 stores, including one in Enfield.

The location at Enfield Square Mall opened in 1971. There is also a Macy’s furniture, home and men’s store in the mall, and that will close as well. In all, 104 associates are employed by the two locations.

“In light of our disappointing 2015 sales and earnings performance, we are making adjustments to become more efficient and productive in our operations,” said Terry Lundgren, chairman and CEO of Macy’s.

In addition to closing 40 stores, the number of employees at other Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s locations will be reduced. An average of three to four positions will be cut from each of the 770 stores that will remain open. Each store currently employs approximately 150 associates. In all, about 3,000 positions will be eliminated, though 50 percent of those employees will be placed in other positions within the company.

Also, 600 positions in back offices will be eliminated, with about 150 being moved to other jobs.

Final clearance sales will begin on January 11, and run for 12 weeks.

In all, the company is trying to reduce expenses by $400 million.

It was fresh evidence of the struggles at Macy’s. The company said sales in the critical November and December period slumped by a worse-than-expected 5 percent. Profits are also expected to miss the company’s own targets.

Like other retailers, Macy’s blamed the “historically warm weather” in northern climates. Macy’s said about 80 percent of its sales declines can be attributed to shortfalls in cold-weather goods like coats, sweaters, hats, gloves and scarves.

Macy’s also pointed to the impact of the strong U.S. dollar, which has caused international tourists to spend less.

Still, Wall Street cheered the belt tightening, bidding Macy’s shares up nearly 6% in after-hours trading on Wednesday. The stock lost nearly half its value in 2015, making it one of the worst performers in the S&P 500.

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