Macy's closing Eastland and Westland stores

[Bham1982]

Why would a management company sit on a tax write off, rather than be involved in the community ?

And does Schostak even do those little mini malls? I thought they only own larger plazas.

I don't think they own those little tanning salon/pita place/cell phone store centers. I know some in that family, and while I don't share their politics, they're good people.

Edit- just looked up their website, and they do seem to have smaller properties. Many not the tiny ones, but they do own neighborhood-level centers.

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

KMart will be gone within 5 years, and Sears within 10.

You are far too optimistic. KMart will be gone nationally within 2 years, and Sears within 4. There used to more than 2000 Kmarts in America. Now, about 700. They say that they are "investing in core business" and "focusing on highest performing stores." But for both Sears and KMart, the investing and focusing does not include modernization, renovation, or notable improvement of existing locations; and it includes literally zero new locations. They have sold off many valuable company assets, from real estate to Land's End to Craftsman Tools. Sears Auto Center will be rebranded and sold off [[they still make money). They are simply trying to get maximum value for the remaining assets, not trying to plot a future as a retail company. And each selloff and store closure reduces company buying & negotiating power, and increases the cost [[relative to sales) of advertising, corporate management and product distribution.

Macy's will exist for a long time, but 10 years from now it will be a mix of smaller & dedicated stores [[fashions only, for example; not as many full on "department" stores); a few regional "showplace" centers in big cities and large, busy upscale malls; and lots of online sales. For what it's worth, Macy's has already lost a good chunk of sales to more budget friendly stores like Kohl's and TJ Maxx, and better-run upscale stores like Nordstrom.

[archfan]

How many malls had to shut down in the days after Christmas because of fights involving dozens or more, organized on social media? I can't imagine why regular people are staying away!

How many malls in the Detroit area did have to shut down because of fights?

[Zacha341]

Not shut down immediately, but fighting or perception of such has been a growing deterrent and slow death nail in the coffin of closure. Making online more attractive. I never shop black Friday for example. I don't want to be part of any mall 'wilding'.

If I go to a mall [[period, not just in Detroit area) I make sure it's not on a Friday [[or a super buy day like black Friday) or too late in the evening, or during a headline gym shoe release day.

How many malls in the Detroit area did have to shut down because of fights?

[clubboss]

How many malls in the Detroit area did have to shut down because of fights?

Physical confrontations or wild west type shootings?

[Zacha341]

^^^ Neither sound like a good time.

[clubboss]

^^^ Neither sound like a good time.

It’s axiomatically incorrect to classify shootouts between sociopathic and psychopathic individuals at a mall, being no different than physical altercations. Only in Detroit

[catch22]

Lowell, I think the "Mexican Restaurant" you speak of was more than likely an Olive Garden at some point. Many of them have/had this "stone walls and a tile roof" faux-Mediterranean architecture to them. Here is a similarly designed Olive Garden in Auburn Hills.

It was a Carrabba's Italian Grill. It has since been renovated and is now an On The Border restaurant.

Also, that old Service Merchandise building has been torn down. The north half of the property has a new WWFA fire station that replaces the old one on Ford Road that was next to the old Westland City Hall.

[Zacha341]

Hah! Feel the LOVE! But this extra-curricular shopping phenom is happening across the country.

I just do online, or outside store setups now like The Hill in Allen Park, Twelve Oaks, Fairlane Meadows etc. I just don't care for enclosed malls now much. Even Great Lakes in Auburn Hills can be nuts these days.

It’s axiomatically incorrect to classify shootouts between sociopathic and psychopathic individuals at a mall, being no different than physical altercations. Only in Detroit

[clubboss]

Hah! Feel the LOVE! But this extra-curricular shopping phenom is happening across the country.

I just do online, or outside store setups now like The Hill in Allen Park, Twelve Oaks, Fairlane Meadows etc. I just don't care for enclosed malls now much. Even Great Lakes in Auburn Hills can be nuts these days.

I shop online as well, however, I window shop the brick and mortar stores, then go home and purchase what I want online. There are exceptions, one example is Macy’s, there was an 8-quart stock pot, regularly $50.00, on sale for $20.00. This price was available online only, and to avoid shipping I needed to pick it up - I chose Fairlane. I have no aversion going to any mall; I’m quick, in and out. Those little pistol packing urchins, wearing their pants down around their knees, should fear this old man.

[ArchNigel]

That makes sense. Carrabba's locations can has a similar aesthetic; Olive Garden just happens to be a little more familiar to me because I know of a few OG's that have that general appearance, while the Carrabba's I know of usually have a "different" appearance, for lack of a better descriptor. Ergo, OG became my de facto choice.

It was a Carrabba's Italian Grill. It has since been renovated and is now an On The Border restaurant.

Also, that old Service Merchandise building has been torn down. The north half of the property has a new WWFA fire station that replaces the old one on Ford Road that was next to the old Westland City Hall.

[subsidized]

It was a Carrabba's Italian Grill. It has since been renovated and is now an On The Border restaurant.

Also, that old Service Merchandise building has been torn down. The north half of the property has a new WWFA fire station that replaces the old one on Ford Road that was next to the old Westland City Hall.

To be fair almost every store in Lowells post has been reopened as a different retailer. The Best Buy opened a bigger location a few doors down. The Circuit City was remodeled and is now the city hall. The only ones that aren't currently occupied have been torn down [[Quo Vadas and Service Merchandise). Westland isn't doing as bad as it was during the height of the recession.

[royce]

I stopped shopping at Macy's [[all Metro Detroit stores) because their brands were too expensive for me. It started with Hudson's/Marshall Field's when they brought in designer brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica, and Ralph Lauren/Polo. I couldn't afford those prices. When I could, I still refused to pay that kind of money when I could get comparable items at a cheaper price else where. Also, I have found that Macy's doesn't honor sales that they advertise. When you present a coupon, they'll often tell you that it doesn't apply to that item.

As a result, Kohl's has been my go to store for the last few years. Mainly for my casual clothes, but now for dress shirts and casual shoes. I used to go to the JCPenney store at Fairlane for my dress shirts, but their Stafford line doesn't have the same quality that it used to so now that I go to Kohl's I get Croft and Barrow dress shirts. The funny thing about the Fairlane JCPenney store is that it's the only store I would go to in the mall. Get what I needed from Penney's [[that's what it was called in the 70s) and I was done.

Now, I reject the notion that many of these mall stores are failing because of on-line sales. As someone pointed out earlier, up to 15% of retail sales are done on line. I think that the prices of clothing at Macy's and JCPenney's are just too expensive for the average person. Many other non-traditional mall stores seem to offer items at much cheaper prices.

BTW, does the GAP still exist? If it does, where is one in Metro Detroit?

[hybridy]

Royce there are 7 gap stores in the metro. 12 oaks, somerset, partridge, Rochester, auburn hills, fairlane, and orchard lake rd. JCP has best price on Levi's jeans...and when u use jcp card u get additional 20% sale price so I often get 511s for $30-35 depending on the sale. I think their men's stuff is superior to kohls. Never step foot in kohls...they're always trashed and cluttered. Best place for dress clothes for men is CK outlet at Great Lakes crossing IMHO

[313WX]

Old Navy [[which is owned by Gap) also has good prices on jeans.

That's where I get mine.

The only one I know of is at Macomb Mall, but I'm sure there are other locations.

[Zacha341]

Gap locations: http://www.gap.com/products/store-locations.jsp

[Maof]

should you get a "gap card", you will get 40% off and sometimes 50%. never ever have i paid full price for anything there. got my son a $68 dollar sweater for christmas and only paid $28 and change. as far as coupons go, i agree with royce. too many restrictions. nike, levi's and many other name brands will not allow any coupon discounts. i also like jc penney's over kohl's. much more organized.

[professorscott]

If I go to a mall [[period, not just in Detroit area) I make sure it's not on a Friday [[or a super buy day like black Friday) or too late in the evening, or during a headline gym shoe release day.

Malls and the stores in them are facing a perfect storm, a combination of paradigm shifts akin to what happened to small pine-board stores in rural communities when Wal-Mart came to town, only more widespread, and happening faster.

If you are any store in a regional mall, you always had to compete with the other stores in your mall and other nearby malls. Now you have to compete with three things that weren't always around, and good luck:

1. Large, well-run stores like Target or discounters like Wal-Mart;
2. Things nobody 20 years ago could have imagined, like what Amazon has become [[and Amazon is hardly the only fish in its sea);
3. Worse yet, from the store operators' point of view, is that the younger generation does not seem to be as thing-oriented as we were. [["We" being my age cohort; I don't cough up my age online, but the fact that your kindly old Professor refers to himself in the third person as "your kindly old Professor" ought to narrow it down sufficiently.) My three daughters simply do not shop, not one of them, not even when they have money and can shop. They buy what they need and pretty much only what they need. Granted, that's not everybody, but it seems to be a growing trend. I have a house full of tzotchkes, acquired over the years as things caught the eye of myself or the lovely Mrs. Professor; my children will never accumulate useless eye-catchers in the way that we have [[and still do).

[ABetterDetroit]

Embrace the new economies and take part in them. It was a spectacular success when we did it during the birth of the automobile in this metro area. Several decades later, when change was happening again in the same industry, we practically chased it out of state by digging in our heels with politics and labor demanding to do it the way it has always been done and denouncing the change. We ended up in an economic disaster from which we still not have recovered. We should have been the robotics leader of the world, but no we didn't want those job killing machines here. Look how that worked out. Your welcome California.

It's always better to be part of the changes than have them be made for you.

[MicrosoftFan]

I took a trip to Westland a few days ago. It looked as if it was on the brink of death. The Kohl's looked fine and was reasonably busy, but that was the peak. The atmosphere of the mall was terrible- dark, dank corners where stores used to be, empty kiosks in the center of the halls, cheap looking kids play areas in the main courts, carpeting with stains, and worst of all the heat. It was freezing behind the now-closed Macy's, I had to put my coat back on.

Penney's is doing reasonably well and it looked clean, but you can tell they suffer from far too much inventory. The Sears, the last remaining mall Sears in Metro Detroit, had a good amount of mostly older shoppers, but far too much inventory as well. They are still selling Christmas sweaters. In April. The bags have their [[200th?) anniversary printed on them for 2018 still. The store itself was clean, but the fluorescent lighting was intense and gave it a 90s Radio Shack feel. The tools department still had one of Sears' famous elderly workers who know everything, but the appliance department had a young guy who was reading things about the dishwashers I was inquiring about straight off the price tag.

After leaving the massive disappointment of Westland Mall, I headed over to Ford Road, which was busy as ever. The Canton JCPenney, just down the road, was leaps and bounds above the Westland location and was clean, modern, and had good-looking displays. It was also reasonably busy. If JCPenney can convert their stores into this slightly smaller format model, perhaps by closing the second story in some locations and moving it to the first, they can survive.

My final trip was to Southland to make a return at Penney's from my visit to Canton a few days earlier. Southland may be experiencing a renaissance; I only counted a few empty storefronts and foot traffic was busy for 3pm on a weekday. JCPenney was well stocked and had ample foot traffic, and even their second floor had bright new displays for towels and other "soft-home" products. The Southland Macy's was still kicking as well, though the third floor furniture gallery had near-original yellow carpeting. Southland has been able to stay alive and kicking because 1) it is on a busy road corridor [[although this hasn't saved East/North land) 2) there aren't as many retail options Downriver, as opposed to Northland which has Tel-Twelve and Somerset a few miles away and 3) they've added stores like H&M and Forever 21 that appeal to the teen girl crowd.

In other news, Sears has opened three concept "Home and Life" stores. They will be MUCH smaller and focus on appliances and home goods. This is exactly what they should be doing, since Sears simply cannot compete in the apparel space, whereas JCPenney is probably able to. Millennials don't get the concept of selling apparel, appliances, home goods, and tools all under one roof. Will this save Sears? I guess we'll see.

[Zacha341]

^^^ Awesome report MFan. I agree some consolidation is needed. Thanks for the details! Save me some time in investigating... Yes, Southland is not bad.

And Canton is very busy. Restaurants back to back there too!

[401don]

They are still selling Christmas sweaters. In April.

Maybe they're just ahead of the curve. Costco starts bringing out their Christmas stuff in July.

[313WX]

Canton is where all the white collar money fleed to. I'm not surprised the stores/restaurants there are flourishing.

Westland [[and to an extent, Southgate) are fledgling working class communities, where the purchasing power is much less.

[stasu1213]

Eastland has a new owner whom had said that he was going to open new stores inside the mall instead of closing the remaining stores. 6 months later the only stores that had recently opened are similar to the ones that just closed a few months ago. The same very urbane type of stores that bring in the crowd that had helped Eastland’s rapidly decline 10 plus years ago. It appear that Eastland will be just another tax write off for the new owner as it probably were for the last owner. Their are a few Harper Woods leaders and planners who wanted the property to be of better use. I am getting the feeling that the new comers in Haper Wood’s city government and planning department [[a few are former Detroiters) are accepting just anything less from developers.
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[Don K]

Westland isn't doing as bad as it was during the height of the recession.

Well, I'm sure that's a low bar to clear Although most of the money earned in Western Wayne is because of the car company that didn't go Chapter 11 during the recession.