Macy's announced Monday that it plans to close at least fifteen stores this year including two in Georgia. The stores at The Gallery at South DeKalb in DeKalb County and at Macon Mall in Bibb County, are both expected to close this spring. Macy's currently operates about 640 full-line department stores under its namesake brand. The company will also close its Bloomingdale's store in Miami at the outdoor lifestyle center, The Falls. (Macy's previously closed its Bloomingdale's at Perimeter Mall, then one of two Atlanta area stores.)
The closure of the Macy's at The Gallery at South DeKalb (formerly South DeKalb Mall) will leave the struggling mall with no clear anchor. Built in 1968, the mall was once home to both JCPenney and Rich's (which later became Macy's). JCPenney left the mall in 2001 to open at The Mall at Stonecrest in nearby Lithonia. South DeKalb was also home to one of the first few Chick-fil-A restaurants, but the Atlanta-based chicken chain shuttered its food court location in 2012. A movie theater that originally opened at the mall in 1971 and was expanded, sold and abandoned at various times, closed in 2017 and remains vacant today.
In Bibb County, Macon Mall has suffered a similar reduction in foot traffic and occupancy. Macy's closure at Macon Mall will leave the property with just one anchor: Burlington [Coat Factory].
Built in 1975 and spanning more than 1 million square feet, Macon Mall was originally anchored by Davison's, Belk, JCPenney, and Sears. The mall underwent a huge renovation and expansion in 1997 that added Dillard's and Parisian as anchors, among other additions. Parisian, which was purchased by Belk in 2006, shut its store at the mall in 2007 followed by Dillard's decision to "move" to the new Shoppes at River Crossing lifestyle center in 2008. Among a wave of store closures nationwide, Sears closed its store in the mall in the spring of 2012 followed by Belk's closure at the mall later that fall. Burlington opened a new store at the mall in 2015, occupying the upper level of the former Sears store. The JCPenney store at the mall was one of 138 stores the company closed in 2017.
Macy's closed its store, another Rich's legacy store, at North DeKalb Mall in early 2016 to make way for what developers hoped would be a new Costco. Years later, the Costco is still not open (or even confirmed) and there is now talk that the mall's owner - Sterling Organization - may want to sell the mall. Additionally, Decaturish reported January 2 that the City of Clarkston is looking to annex the mall in a bid to both grow its tax base and revive the redevelopment.
Elsewhere in DeKalb County, Northlake [Mall] remains open with anchors JCPenney and Macy's. Mall owner ATR Corinth confirmed last Fall that they lured Emory Healthcare to the former Sears space for administrative offices.
Given their high vacancy rates and changes in shopping habits, both The Gallery at South DeKalb and Macon Mall seem destined for redevelopment. It remains to be seen however, who, if anyone, would have immediate interest in redeveloping either mall. The Gallery at South DeKalb sits on nearly 75 acres and is located on Candler Road between I-20 and I-285, whereas Macon Mall, once one of Georgia's biggest malls, occupies about 97 acres on Eisenhower Parkway between I-75 and I-475.
It would be easier (and less expensive) to just replace the soon to be shuttered Macy's with another anchor or anchors, but the fact that both malls are likely seen by many as "dead," will likely make backfill opportunities scarce.
Several Macy's stores remain open in metro Atlanta in so-called "dead malls" including those at Greenbriar Mall, Gwinnett Place Mall Southlake Mall and Northlake (Mall).
Elsewhere in town, the company also operates full-line stores at Cumberland Mall near Smyrna, The Mall at Stonecrest in Lithonia North Point Mall in Alpharetta, Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody, Mall of Georgia in Buford, Town Center at Cobb in Kennesaw, and a regional "flagship" at Lenox Square in Buckhead, among others.
Are you surprised by Macy's decision to close its stores at The Gallery at South DeKalb and Macon Mall? What is your favorite department store? What would you like to see open in place of the two soon to close Macy's stores?
Please share your thoughts below.