Cape Girardeau Macy's not among 11 stores company plans to close

The Macy's at West Park Mall in Cape Girardeau is not among the 11 stores in nine states the Cincinnati, Ohio-based department store chain is planning to close this year, said Jim Sluzewski, a company spokesman. Among the stores slated to close is the Crestwood Mall location in St. Louis, Mo., which has 176 employees and opened in 1969.

Macy's became an anchor store at West Park Mall in September 2006 when its parent company, Federated Department Stores, purchased Famous-Barr.

"Macy's is one of our key anchors and we don't see anything that would make us think it's closing. Obviously Macy's has a lot of square footage and

department stores traditionally have been a driver of traffic. The mall had

a good strong holiday season and it's poised well in the region to continue

to do well. Many of our stores at West Park Mall are value-oriented and

that's what many people are looking for in these times," said Susan Godorov, spokeswoman for Centro.

Another of the mall's large anchor store spaces has been wracked by turnover in the past decade. The space housed Steve & Barry's discount clothing store from 2005 until last November, but was empty for four years before that after ShopKo left in 2001. It now sits empty again.

Other Macy's stores scheduled to close include locations in Nashville, Tenn., Indianapolis, Ind., and Los Angeles, Calif. Company officials said the move will cost the company about $65 million.

"These closings are part of our normal-course process to prune underperforming locations each year in order to maintain a healthy portfolio of stores," said Terry J. Lundgren, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Macy's, Inc. "While new store growth has slowed in the current economy, our long-term strategy is to continue to selectively add new stores while closing those that are underperforming."

The 960 employees affected in the closures may be offered positions at other Macy's locations. Full-time and part-time employees who are laid off from the closures will be provided severance pay and benefits.

Macy's reported today that its same-store sales fell 4 percent in December and were down 7.5 percent for the combined November-December period.