Macy's Cuts 100 Chicagoland Jobs

By Tim State in News on Jan 13, 2008 2:47PM

Further evidence that Macy’s strategies are not headed in the successful direction executives hoped, Macy’s North, the division that operates Macy’s in the Midwest, announced Friday the layoff of 271 employees, citing lagging sales. Combined sales for November and December were down 1.1%, while December’s sales were down 7.9%, significantly worse than the anticipated 4 to 7 percent drop over last year. January’s same day sales are expected to dip 4 to 6 percent.

100 positions in the Chicagoland area will be impacted, with 70 in Detroit, and the remaining in Minneapolis, where Macy’s North is headquartered. Most of the positions eliminated coincide with Macy’s shuttering their Marketplace food operations and wine sales beginning in March at every store other than the flagship State Street location. Local stores impacted include Oak Brook, Aurora, Vernon Hills, and the new store in Bolingbrook. A Macy’s spokesperson said the effort is to align expenses with revenue. The layoff comes on the heals of Macy’s announcement just two weeks ago they will be closing nine underperforming stores, which impacts 900 employees. Although no stores are in Illinois.

Field’s Fans Chicago’s blog encourages fans to pen letters to the editor. One fan suggested, via the blog, an effort to organize a Field’s delegation at the next Macy’s annual meeting of shareholders. He added, “If Chicago can rise from the ashes of the Great Fire of 1871 which was the greatest disaster to hit any city since Pompeii, then Chicago can bring back Marshall Field’s!”

Great Tree photo by the author.