Macy’s to Close Downtown St. Louis

Macy’s Inc.  (Cincinnati) has announced intentions to close its downtown St. Louis store this summer.

Clearance sales will begin on June 2 and run about 10 weeks.

The 189,000-square-foot store on Locust Street was opened in 1924. It was once the flagship of Famous-Barr, until the 2004 purchase of the former May Co. by then-Federated Department Stores. It currently occupies the three lower floors of the Railway Exchange Building.

In January, Macy’s revealed plans to close six stores in 2013. Since then, it has announcing downtown closings in St. Paul, Minn., Houston and Honolulu.

Kevin Farrell, senior director of economic and housing development for the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis, said the organization was “disappointed but not surprised.” For most small to mid-size cities, the old model of 150,000 to 200,000-square-foot downtown department stores “is just not viable today,” he told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Ten years ago, this would have been a much bigger blow to downtown. But we have had over $5 billion invested downtown in that time. Our population continues to grow.”

Macy’s operates eight other stores in the St. Louis area.