What does it take for me to buy stuff from them? The ability to get the attention of their sales clerks. I swear you could drop dead from hunger trying to find someone to fetch a pair of shoes for you to try on.

I know this article is sarcasm, but yeah, about those coupons... you couldn't actually buy anything worth buying with them. No wonder they were ignored.

I am a male, in my late 20's. When I am at the mall, with the choices of the major department stores for clothing, I always find more stuff in JC Pennys than Macys. I NEVER go into a Sears.

Crap, I just gave a bunch of Macy's gift cards for christmas too.

lol how funny. i live in indiana and we JUST got a macy's in my city. wonder if its one of the ones closing.

I'm a gay male with a great sense of style and fashion, And Also in Chicago. Our Choices here are J.C. Penny, Carson,s Neiman's, Nordstroms, Von Maur, Bloomingdales, Lord & Taylor & Macy's. Not to mention the countless vendors that left field's directly and opened their own stand alone store on Michigan ave. Macy's are so understaffed that you can take every tester bottle of colongue home with you and no one would notice.

I think I spent more at Macy's this year than ever. :p But, really, I had the worst frustration trying to use those damned coupons this weekend. :/

@missjulied: That drives me nuuuuts! But the thing is that Macy's where I live bought out another department store (Meier and Frank). When it was still M&F and not affiliated with Macy's, their shoe department was just as understaffed. You could stand there with a shoe in your hand, trying to flag someone down, and you oculd tell as they whizzed past you that they were trying very hard not to make eye contact with you. Now it's similar, but not everyone on the floor can pull shoes for you. So they ask if they can help you, you tell them what size you need, and they "respond with , oh, I actually can't get shoes." :/

My issue with Macy's is what they stock. Some departments have so little in the way of variety that it's surprising. But I do check them out often for housewares - they run a lot of sales that don't always require coupons.

Ugh, as much as I don't like Macy's, if the one in South Bend closes, there will be no upscale makeup counters in that mall anymore.

Last time I was at Macy's I was second in line to check out, when a sales associate told me she could take me at another register. Walked over there, and she proceeded to take a phone call (store-related, but still), then literally walked away to help another associate find something. Meanwhile, the person in front of me in the other line paid and left, and the person who was behind me got helped before I ultimately did. So, thanks, Macy's.

@missjulied:

Not to mention the shocking inability of their employees to transact payments. I know their POS terminals predate the Nixon administration, but I have yet to have a return processed smoothly, and even the simplest transaction with my Macy's card usually has some issue associated with it.

Yesterday I spent ten minutes paying for a pair of shirts while the two cashiers gossiped with each other and made phone calls rather than expeditiously ringing me up and sending me on my way. There were at least five other people on line simmering through this.

Luckily I can always go to the Macy's at the Short Hills Mall here in suburban NJ. The employees there don't DARE to mis-step lest they lose a chance to make a huge sales commission off some richie.

You should point out that most of these stores never performed good even before they were bought out by macy's. Their locations are pretty bad.

there's a macy's (former lazarus, former shillito's) in the newly renovated "town centre" down the road from me here in cincinnati. i wouldn't be surprised if it's one of the stores they close. hardly anyone shops there anymore, and the service is slow and awful. back in it's heyday as a lazarus store, it always did big business. thing is if they close it, it'll doom that center to having a k-mart as it's main anchor store, and only a kroger to actually get people near the place.

@HeyHermano: Take the South Shore to Chicago!

The decline in apparel sales in most stores is directly correlated to the super-fug fashions out there right now. Million $ celeb spokespersons do not make the ugly clothes prettier. When I can't find a decent, well-made suit that flatters but isn't slutty, there is a major problem. Designers are trying to appeal to 'tweens, but tweens usually don't have jobs that can maintain an expensive wardrobe.

The answer is simple, really: Macy's never has anything I want to wear, and what they do have is twice the price I want to pay. I live in fear of the day they close the Lord & Taylor near me (which they also own). That store is my lifeline.

i blame it on all the pregnant-looking shirts that women are wearing! i predicted this! someone get wolf blitzer off of pakistan and on this story! it's breaking news-worthy!

I wonder which store in Utahrd will be closed? I hope the one in Riverdale, customer service is worst of the worst. @mammalpants: "blame it on all the pregnant-looking shirts that women are wearing!" I do hate them too!

@firesign: That is actually where I get my work clothes....store is always busy, what are you talking about? Anderson is probably the least busy, but it is small.

@randotheking: We'll, are you talking about Kenwood or northgate? Northgate mall itself is dead, if that is what you are talking about. It has a really poor location.

@mammalpants: Seriously! The clothes this season are fugawful!

@HeyHermano: It amused me that all the kiddies thought it was the greatest of trips to go to University Park. Yeesh. They needed to get out more.

What is really crazy about this announcement is the actual store locations they decided to close. Listed here:
[www.bizjournals.com]
They are closing the Canton, OH downtown and Akron, OH stores, both of which are full stock, busy stores in areas that people really need and use a retail store like that (rather than drive out to other areas), yet they choose THOSE stores over the closeby Stowe, OH location, which has about a quarter of the selection of the others, and is free-standing (no mall or other retail connected). Personally, I love that location because I can shop there practically alone (deader than dead), though it doesn't have most things you'd expect from a Macy's. To keep THAT store open over the CANTON CENTRE one"? To me insane AND inane mgt.

[www.bizjournals.com]
Sorry...THIS bizjournal link details the specific stores in the cities, not just the city name like the last

...I can Toooootally understand closing the Rolling Acres Mall Akron one, though....that area has been run into the ground thanks to thugs, I wouldn't go within 5 miles of that location.

@ceejeemcbeegee: NO. The decline in apparel sales at Macy's is related to the fact that their buyers seem unable to select quality merchandise.

I might have liked Macy's ok before they bought out all the department stores who carried quality, but now I see no reason to set foot in their doors.

@amoeba: The SLC ZCMI Macy's is closing, but will be reopened after renovations are completed.

I hate shopping at any retail store, but especially at the department stores like Macy's. I never can find what I'm looking for and usually after stopping at 3 or 4 stores wasting several hours I just go home, get on the internet, and a half hour later I've ordered everything I wanted. 2 or 3 days later it arrives. I think there is so much choice online, why would one limit themselves in both price and selection by going to a stupid store like Macy's?

I think one of the last times I went to a Macy's type store I found a pair of shoes I actually liked but they didn't have them in my size. The teenage kid asked if I would like to try a pair ½ size larger or smaller. I told him I was looking for a pair in my actual size.

I assume the Oklahoma store closing is the one in Crossroads Mall in OKC. That mall is terrible. JC Penney closed their store there not too long ago too.

Macy's bought out Foley's here a few years ago, and I think I've been in the stores twice since then. Foley's used to have massively deep end-of-season sales. Macy's does not. So I don't go for the sales and I end up not going the rest of the year, either.
Additionally, the few times I did go, they didn't seem to have any sales staff on the floor.
Dillard's has huge end-of-season sales and staff to ring up your stuff or find you another size.
::shrugs::
So I go to Dillard' s.

On the one hand, I feel bad for the people who will be out of jobs. On the other hand? Who here wants a nice slice of Schadenfreude Pie?

Boo-hoo! LOL!

Macy's also is closing stores in Houston, Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, Lake Charles, La.; Akron, Ohio; Canton, Ohio; North Randall, Ohio and Riverdale, Utah.

That was in the Biz Journal article.

I want my Marshall Fields back, screw Macy's. They're thought of so badly here in the Minneapolis area that Nordstrom's is actually expanding and opening up another store at one of the local malls.

True story: I was looking for new dress pants at my local Macy's a few months ago. A helpful sales clerk* pulled me aside and whispered: "The selection here isn't good--go to a different store."

* Amazingly, they do exist!

Why don't I shop at Macy's? Why the f*ck would I want to pay $50 for some poor quality, private label, shapeless dress shirt? Seriously, why would I spend that kind of money on a brand called Alfani? Some advice for Macy's, either carry the major brands at reasonable (albeit expensive) prices or do your off-brand stuff at very low prices. Don't try to trick me into thinking the two are interchangeable.

@csdiego:

Hey, don't worry. Federated sold Lord and Taylor to Apollo Realty a while ago, and they've been doing well ever since. Apollo also owns Linens 'n Things.

I had to laugh yesterday in a Macy's- we had a return, and hence a lovely gift card.. and my husband noted that the clothes in Sears looked better than the ones in Macy's, In the plus size department- Who picks out this crap anyway?

No wonder they are going down-- hey buyers-- we dont like the polyester maternity shirts with nasty 70's prints!!

Macy's private label clothes look cheap both on the hangar and when being worn. Macy's has the most disinterested and unhelpful sales and customer service staff on the planet. In droves customers are revolting against this once proud retailer. Heaven knows why Macy's stockholders are not revolting as well.

Kohl's, and believe it or not Sears are the only 2 stores I can find great clothing at for reasonable prices. Being in the overlooked middle section of not a teeny bopper, yet not an old lady clothes segment, it is difficult to find anything...not to mention in petite length pants/jeans.

Uhhh...how come Field's supporters aren't point out that a tenth location, the former Marshall Field's in Lake Forest will also be closing soon. There's actually TEN locations closing. Macy's slipped that under the rug. Even Sandra Guy in today's Sun-Times slips under the rug by saying the Chicago area will not be impacted. It should have pointed out that there are ten stores closing including one former Marshall Field's.

Macy's and the Press: manipulating the sheeople

My experience at Macys in the last couple of years has been that their stores are messy and their employees
have no sense of urgency at all. They move slowly, they often ignore customers, and they're sometimes rude. Amusingly, I sent an email complaint to Macys on December 16. Ten days later on December 26, I received an email from them saying this: "Please accept our sincere apology for not responding to your email due
to the high volume of email inquiries we have received. If we do not hear from you, we will assume this issue has been resolved." I wrote back, pointing out that my issue hadn't been resolved because -- as their email acknowledged -- THEY HADN'T RESPONDED TO ME YET. wtf? And I still haven't heard back.

@LadyCarolineLamb: I'm convinced the Stow Macy's exists only so geezers from the retirement places nearby have a place to shop. It's like a sea of elastic waist pants in there.

I was at a 6 story Macy's store in downtown Minneapolis this weekend for a Christmas display they do every year and stopped in to get a french press. No price tag. Free? We went to the Customer Service desk to check the price only to find no one there. We searched all over that floor looking for someone to buy the press from. Finally, we found someone who checked the price for us. Fortunately, he also gave us a $10 off coupon. I guess I'd trade prompt service for $10 off. Well, this time. It gets old pretty fast though.

@Wubbytoes: Yeah, it's the ex-Foley's in Crossroads Mall, which my 14-year-old daughter refers to as "the ghetto mall."

Another retailer famous for the list of excluded items that reads like the Manhattan telephone book, is Bob's Clothing Store (owned by that infamous TJ Maxx cult).

it seems that every week of 2 I get a slew of coupons good for 20% off everything . . . . excluding, of course, everything.

What will it take for me to shop there? Oh, just one thing -- Marshall Field's.

Until the day comes that they (or a corporate investor) either change back the State Street flagship and at least the better locations in their Midwestern stores to the Field's moniker in some fashion, there is no way in hell they will get any of my money, or that any of my family. Nordstrom, Carson's, Von Maur, H&M and Target, etc. have become poor substitutes for Field's, but we have to make due for now.

Macy's stock has now fallen to a tad over $25, it's 52 week low. Isn't it cheap enough for a takeover yet? I guess not cheap enough! The stockholders should revolt.

I guess there needs to be a purge of former Field's employees from Macy's Northwest. The Macy's stores that existed before the buyout don't seem to be having the problems that Macy's North does. I'm sure most of the salespeople in the stores were there before the buyout.

I've only started shopping at Macy's this past year or so and I find great deals all the time. It really depends on the particular store though. Some never have anything good on sale, while others have clearance stuff that I like every time I go there. I just got a $500 CK leather jacket for Christmas, and I know the person that bought it didn't pay more than $150.