Macy's closes all US stores to stop virus spread

Macy's, one of the largest retail chains in the United States with more than 800 stores and about 130,000 employees, closed all its stores nationwide on Tuesday until at least March 31 to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

The closures include all Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Bluemercury, Macy's Backstage and other outlet stores, the company said in a news release. Macy's said it will offer compensation and benefits to its affected workers during the closing,

"The health and safety of our customers, colleagues and communities is our utmost priority," CEO Jeff Gennette said in a statement. "We will work with government and health officials to assess when we will reopen our stores and safely bring our colleagues back to work."

Macy's said it would continue to operate its e-commerce sites.

As of the latest reported quarter, Macy's was operating 551 Macy's department stores, 34 Bloomingdale's locations, 19 Bloomingdale's outlets and 171 Bluemercury shops, according to its website. As of Feb 2, the company had roughly 130,000 employees, excluding seasonal staff

In February, Macy's announced plans to close 125 stores within three years and slash 2,000 corporate jobs as part of an effort to cut costs. The store closings are part of Macy's new three-year turnaround strategy that aims to find $1.5 billion in annual cost savings by the end of 2022. The company currently has about 130,000 employees and roughly 870 department and specialty stores, according to its website

Macy's on Tuesday joined Nordstrom to temporarily close all of its stores in the US, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Nordstrom said on Monday it would temporarily shut its stores in the US and Canada and withdrew its fiscal 2020 forecast.

REUTERS