http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/2013/01/downtown-macys-to-close/ The downtown Macy's, shown in this 2009 photo, is slated for closure this spring. (Nick de la Torre / Houston Chronicle file) Macy’s, downtown’s biggest store, will shutter soon. The Cincinnati-based retailer said Thursday it will close six stores in early spring, including the downtown Houston location. Mayor Annise Parker said in an afternoon press conference that the city has known that Macy’s would be leaving because “they essentially they lost their lease.” The property owner, she said, is “planning on demolishing the current site and the owner wants to build a commercial office building on that site.” The store has been around since 1947 and many Houstonians remember it as a Foley’s. It occupies the 791,000 square foot building at 1110 Main St. Macy’s employs 138 people at its downtown location. Those affected may be offered positions in nearby stores and eligible employees laid off will be offered severance, the company said. In a statement, Macy’s said it is committed to growing its business and opening new stores, but will also “selectively close underperforming stores that no longer meet our performance requirements or where leases are not being renewed.” Clearance sales will begin Monday, Jan. 7 and run for between 7 and 11 weeks. Mayor Annise Parker quickly released a statement announcing a new downtown retail task force that will work with the Houston Downtown Management District to “research all available options for a new downtown Macy’s, as well as additional department stores and major retailers”: I am charging a small group of experienced marketing and real estate professionals with aggressively seeking all options to increase the amount of retail and supporting parking in downtown. With two hotels, multiple residential projects, new ownership of the Houston Pavilions, expanded light rail and other key projects on the horizon, downtown is booming, and retail is critical in making it a desirable mixed-use activity center. As the fourth-largest city in the U.S., Houston needs, and should have, more retail options downtown. A news release from the mayor’s office expressed optimism that something can be worked out: Macy’s real estate group in Cincinnati elected to close the downtown Houston location because of future plans for the store block, but they continue to believe that the Houston downtown area is a highly desirable location for an urban store. Since early this year, the Downtown District has been working closely with Macy’s, the property owner 1110 Main Partners LP and the Mayor’s Office to identify potential sites downtown for redevelopment or new construction. “After further investigation by the building’s owner, no financially feasible scenario was found for maintaining a smaller store in the old structure,” said Bob Eury, Executive Director for the Houston Downtown Management District. “A new location is our only option, and quite frankly, a new, smaller store will bode better for downtown in the long run.” The task force will report to Andrew F. Icken, Chief Development Officer for the Mayor, and will be chaired by Fred Griffin of Griffin Partners. Members include Eury; Jonathan Brinsden with the Midway Companies, owner of Houston Pavilions; George Levan, President of Crosspoint Properties; Doug Kelly with 1110 Main Partners LP; The Finger Companies’ Marvy Finger; Dawn Ullrich, President of Houston First Corporation; Ed Wulfe of Wulfe & Co; and Xavier Pena and Deborah Keyser of the Downtown Redevelopment Authority.
I think almost all of their business came from people who spilled crap on themselves at lunch while at work in offices downtown. (I speak from experience)
Macy's is cleaning house since it was announced also today that the Downtown St. Paul Macy's is closing also.
I never even knew that a Macy's was downtown until a few months ago. While looking at furniture I kept wondering how the hell this place stayed in business.
This is what people say when they live in the 'burbs and don't know their way around downtown or the surrounding areas. I'm fine with this too. I'd rather keep our inner loop traffic to a minimum without the suburb mommy drivers and their "deer in the headlights" look. BTW- JOKING bruh. It's the inner loop in me, couldn't help it.
My wife worked in corporate there in the late 90's and early 2000's and always talked about the dark offices, no windows, pigeon poop and mold throughout. She still has nightmares of working there (or working period). See "pigeon poop" for the smokers there too. It was like rainfall she told me.
This... And Macy's downtown has been surviving only off of people paying to park in their garage every day. Honestly, who goes downtown to shop?
More like... Downtown has pitiful living options. People shop where they live. And they ain't livin' downtown.
If you shop at Macy's, it's the best location to shop at since no one ever goes there. They always have the size you want and theres no rush of the mall
People living in 95% of the cities in the world, most of which have downtowns that are 100x better than Houston's downtown.
