A sign at the shuttered south DeKalb Macy’s. Credit: Kelly Jordan
By Maggie Lee
A warm welcome from Atlanta and Georgia wasn’t enough to make up for the toll that the Covid Recession has taken on Macy’s.
The company has decided it will not open a 630-employee tech hub at Atlantic Station’s T3 West Midtown building, Bisnow first reported Friday.
“We … look forward to our ongoing presence in the Atlanta area, which includes our tech hub centered around our Johns Creek campus as well as vibrant retail destinations in the Atlanta area,” reads part of a statement from Macy’s released to SaportaReport Friday afternoon.
Early this year, Macy’s had announced 831 layoffs from its tech hub in San Fransisco, along with plans to move that work to Atlanta and New York.
This year, the company also announced plans to permanently close 125 stores nationwide, including the ones at The Gallery at South DeKalb and at the Macon Mall. A company press release described a three-year plan to “stabilize profitability” and then grow it.
But after that, COVID-19 emptied stores, shut malls and resulted in temporary furloughs of some 125,000 Macy’s employees. The company is looking at having lost about $1.1 billion in the first quarter of this year.
Macy’s was set to get a $1 million grant from the state of Georgia to help it equip some 70,000 square feet of office space. But now the state will keep that money.
