Sections of the store are bare, and employees are confirming what has been rumored for months: Macy’s at Salem Center is closing.
The company announced it will be closing 65 locations by the end of its fiscal year in February, according to a USA Today report. But no list has been released.
A plaque remembering the Meier & Frank department store is located at the corner of Center and High streets NE in front of the Macy’s building.
The Statesman Journal reached out Monday morning to Macy’s corporate communications in Chicago and the local store manager. Neither responded.
Salem Center mall owners, who purchased the building in August and were leasing it back to Macy’s, said they have exciting plans for transforming the location.
Co-owner Kelly McDonald said they plan to convert the big box layout into a spot offering family entertainment, food and beverages. He said the local investors in the mall are already seeing a bigger demand for activities, events and entertainment for people living and visiting downtown. About 100 people were expected at a recent family-friendly New Year’s Eve event at the mall. More than 250 showed up.
“It’s a great asset in the community,” McDonald said. “It’s a full city block. It has 600 parking spaces. There’s parking on the roof that is currently closed off that could be utilized … it has a connection via the sky bridge to the mall. We see the future use as playing well together with our existing retail.”
Workers at Macy’s in downtown Salem say location is closing
Macy’s employees are not holding back in conversations with their customers, many of whom have been told the location will be closed by March.
“I’ve bought a lot of things here, I enjoy the store, and it’s going to be sad because our next Macy’s will be (about) 50 miles away,” longtime customer Susan Brewer said Monday after returning an item she had bought during a kitchen redo for her West Salem home.
“I think it’s a loss to our city. When people start having to travel to purchase items they’ll purchase other items, so it’ll be a loss to other stores as well, and it will also encourage people to do more online, which will be me. I’m not going to drive 50 miles.”
Macy’s currently has eight locations in Oregon. The nearest to Salem are Washington Square in Tigard and Valley River Center in Eugene.
Macy’s among string of downtown Salem closures
Macy’s in Salem is the latest in a string of department store closures for downtown as fewer shoppers visit malls and more make purchases online.
Sections of Macy’s department store in downtown Salem appeared empty on Saturday.
Rumors have been circulating for the past year that Salem would be on the chopping block. City officials previously confirmed the news, which would leave another large vacant storefront in the heart of the city.
“That’s another chain that has suffered now that we’ve migrated to online shopping,” Kristin Retherford, Salem’s director of community planning and development, said during a recent interview on the state of downtown. “We saw it first with Nordstrom and Penneys. All of those big box and department stores have really struggled to be able to justify the cost of the real estate that they’re taking up when so much of the business is moved to online.”
Macy’s is part of Salem Center mall. It will not be the first anchor store departing the mall in the past decade.
Nordstrom closed in 2018. JCPenney closed in 2020. The Nordstrom building has since been demolished and replaced with apartments. The JCPenney building remains vacant.
“For our city in the middle here, we have lost a lot,” Brewer said. “The city needs to really try to build up our downtown area with merchants that people will really be attracted to.”
Local investors aim to revitalize Salem Center
After decades of out-of-state ownership, local investors purchased Salem Center with hopes of revitalizing the 3.9-acre property and attracting new tenants. New storefronts, a growing arcade and events have shown signs of fulfilling that promise, but Macy’s departure will leave a big vacancy at the mall.
Macy’s department store is one of the anchor tenants at Salem Center mall.
Retherford said the growing number of people living downtown and an expected influx of even more apartments could increase the demand for certain retail, medical, entertainment and service-based businesses.
“The nature of downtown is evolving,” she said. “I think we’ll see a different mix of businesses in the mall.”
McDonald said one of the things that spurred him and the other investors to purchase Salem Center and the Macy’s building was the need for local managers and owners who understand the needs and nuisances in the community. He said the mall will soon add a barbershop, restaurant, coffee shop and are exploring adding a grocery store.
When they were first approached about buying the Macy’s building, he said they weren’t sure they wanted to make the purchase.
“We felt like it was in the community’s best interest if we did do that, and ours, because we didn’t want it to sit vacant if (Macy’s) left,” he said.
Meier & Frank’s storied history in Salem
Salem once was big enough for two Macy’s. The location at the former Lancaster Mall closed in early 2017.
The downtown closure will be sentimental for residents who remember when it was Meier & Frank. The beloved store opened in Salem in 1956.
May Department Stores purchased Meier & Frank in 1966, but the Salem store continued to operate under the Meier & Frank name. In 2006, the May chain was acquired by Federated Department Stores, Macy’s parent company.
The Meier & Frank name was removed from the Salem downtown building on Sept. 9, 2006.
McDonald said the storied history of the building was another big draw.
“We weren’t ready to let that go,” he said. “We want to bring it back to life.”
Capi Lynn is a senior reporter for the Statesman Journal. Send comments, questions and tips to her at clynn@statesmanjournal.com, and follow her work on X @CapiLynn and Facebook @CapiLynnSJ.
Whitney Woodworth covers Salem city government and economic development. Send comments, questions and tips to her at wmwoodworth@statesmanjournal.com call 503-910-6616 or follow on X at @wmwoodworth.
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Macy’s department store to close in downtown Salem, Oregon