Macy's at Summit Place Closing

**Detwa** · January-06-10, 05:40 PM

That's true, it did grow, I shouldn't say it never grew, but I was thinking about how it never measured up to the other malls so it was always "Pontiac Mall" in my mind. Once I left the city [[25 years ago) I never went back to shop and never once considered it.

**fastcarsandfreedom** · January-06-10, 07:14 PM

No question that the nameplate conversion nationally has had some negative impact from a 'brand loyalty' perspective in certain markets--particularly in light of the current economic situation...you can look at the local reactions in markets like Chicago [[MF) for reference--the reaction was repeated nationally no matter the market [[Kaufmann's in Pittsburgh, Foley's in Houston, etc). In some respects this played out in Detroit a few years prior when the Hudson's nameplate was replaced with Marshall Field's--though as someone pointed out already--that was a change in name only as product mix, service levels, etc were not impacted--additionally there was some brand equity in the MF name--and it was at the very least a "midwest" brand.

Have a look at the past few rounds of store closures which Macy's has executed...in almost every case the closed units were ex-May units--some were likely ailing before the merger, while others--we can presume--have faltered since the conversion. In this round I believe Waterford, MI [[Hudsons/Fields), St. Ann, MO [[Famous-Barr) and Burlington, NJ [[Strawbridge & Clothier) are all ex-May units. The Missoula and Boise stores were ex Bon Marche units converted in 2005...Bon Marche having been a component of Federated Stores from the era prior to Federated's purchase of the bankrupt RH Macy Co.

**softailrider** · January-06-10, 09:01 PM

Originally Posted by Stosh

I just had to laugh at this. [[Sustain) + [[able) = ? Note that I kept them in the brackets to avoid combustion.

I'm lost here, are you saying "sustain" is an old verb not usable anymore? Is that why there was the reference to "blacksmith" and "gunfight" You guys must be more literate then me, cause I don't know what the hell you're talking about.

Are you questioning my usage- or is there a sexual undercurrent that i'm missing?

**Cincinnati_Kid** · January-09-10, 06:55 AM

Originally Posted by LodgeDodger

JC Penney is still there.

My bad, I thought they were gone too. Probably just a matter of time though.

**davewindsor** · January-09-10, 07:50 AM

Originally Posted by Traveller1

Nationally, Macy's hasn't been doing very well. Plus, Summit Place has been declining for many years. How can an old mall like Summit Place compete with malls like Somerset Collection, Twelve Oaks, Great Lakes Crossing, and Patridge Creek? Not to mention all the stand alone competition that all those malls have today such as Kohls, TJ Maxx, Marshall's, Target, Meijer, etc...

It's a very big suprise that Summit Place is still opertaing today.

How can an old mall like Summit Place compete? When I was in Toronto, I heard of a dying mall in a crummy area in an annexed city North of Pearson airport called Woodbine Mall. They added an indoor amusement park http://www.fantasyfair.ca/ and the soccer moms started coming back and all the store spaces were leased again. Does metro have any malls with indoor amusement parks? Perhaps, there's some non-progressive thinking on the part of landlords in wanting to make their malls work in a metro area of 5+ million people.

**Don K** · January-09-10, 07:53 AM

A few years back I drove by Summit Place on a Sunday between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and there were maybe forty cars in the parking lot. That's when I knew the mall was doomed. Last summer I actually went into the Sears to return something I bought from Lands End, and there were like two sales clerks on the whole of the main floor; the line at checkout had ten people in it. Clearly Sears is just waiting until they can get out of the lease to close the place.