Women's Wear Daily is reporting that Macy’s (Cincinnati) senior executives spent last week in China and are close to signing a deal to open its first store on the Asian continent. It's believed that both Macy’s as well as Bloomingdale’s (New York) will be anchors for the new $1 billion, 2.3 million-square-foot Sowwah Central megamall, slated to open in 2017 .
Gulf Related, the Middle East unit of Related Urban (in New York), is developing the project in Sowwah Square on Sowwah Island in Abu Dhabi’s Central Business District. In the Middle East, both Macy's and Bloomingdale's are said to be opening full-line department stores in an Abu Dhabi mall. Bloomingdale’s has already had a successful foray into the region via a licensing arrangement in Dubai with Al Tayer Group LLC.
While Macy's declined to comment, a source told WWD, “Terry Lundgren (ceo) has already made several trips to China … Executives from stores, finance and marketing are going over. I believe [Lundgren’s] got someone who wants to build Macy’s stores there.”