Macy’s will have only two stores left in Idaho after latest closure announcement
The Macy’s store at Boise Towne Square mall has withstood another round of store closings.
But the New York retail chain’s store at Grand Teton Mall in Idaho Falls was not as fortunate. It is one of 37 Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores that will close by mid-year.
“After careful consideration, Macy’s has decided to close our Grand Teton Mall location,” spokesperson Emily Workman told EastIdahoNews.com. ”This closure is part of the company’s strategy announced in early 2020.”
Last year, Macy’s said it would cut 2,000 jobs and close 125 stores, one-fifth of its total, by 2023.
The Wall Street Journal reported the Idaho Falls store is slated to close during Macy’s first quarter, which ends April 30.
The Tri-City Herald reported that two Washington state stores, in Spokane and Federal Way, are on the first-quarter closure list. A store in Sandy, Utah, south of Salt Lake City, is scheduled to close by mid-year.
Early last year, Macy’s closed a store in Lewiston. Following the closure of the Idaho Falls store, it will have only the Boise and Coeur d’Alene stores.
In the Northwest, Macy’s stores were previously operated by The Bon Marché, which in Idaho evolved from the 1937 sale of C.C. Anderson’s Golden Rule stores to Allied Stores. In 1992, Allied and The Bon was bought by Federated Department Stores, which operated Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s. In 2003, Federated rebranded The Bon Marché as Bon-Macy’s, and shortened that to Macy’s a year later.
Macy’s shut its store at Nampa’s Karcher Mall, formerly The Bon Marché, in 2009, and opened a store in Nampa’s Gateway Center, though it kept a clearance store in Karcher for several more years.
It closed its downtown Boise store, also a former Bon Marché, in 2010. The building at 10th and Idaho streets was later renovated to become the headquarters of Athlos Academies.
Macy’s closed its stores in Moscow in 2016, Twin Falls in 2017 and Gateway Center in 2017.
J.C. Penney will close its Coeur d’Alene store this spring. The department store chain closed two North Idaho stores, in Lewiston and Ponderay, since filing for bankruptcy last May. The company emerged from bankruptcy in November.
