New Retail Challenges

The farewell seemed abrupt to two communities. Those areas of Los Angeles--Crenshaw and Westwood Village--were surprised to learn that Macy’s had closed its department store branches there; shoppers and employees got the news Saturday through signs posted at the stores.

But to anyone aware of the vagaries of retailing, the closures were less than shocking. The “one-stop shop” that department stores offered has changed with major developments in how consumers shop and buy. Department store retailing is a brutal, unforgiving business these days. Competition is tough for the department store chains, which battle not only each other but discounters, outlet malls and specialty stores. The department stores have responded in part by consuming each other. Macy’s, for example, is still digesting its acquisition of the old Broadway stores and the conversion of the Bullock’s stores. And even as it closed the Crenshaw and Westwood stores, Macy’s said it will open two new ones and renovate others.

Macy’s West, based in San Francisco, is owned by Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores. Three years ago, Crenshaw residents managed to persuade Federated to convert the old Broadway store in Crenshaw to a Macy’s. Shoppers complained, however, that they did not find the merchandise they wanted; Macy’s said it had a mix of merchandise but it did not sell well and that of course the company was in business to make money.

Now the task before the commercial centers of Crenshaw and Westwood is to find new stores. Neighborhood activists say they are confident of finding high-end retailers to replace the Westwood Macy’s, which formerly had been a Bullock’s store. Crenshaw will have to begin from scratch. Surely another fast-growing chain, though not necessarily a department store, will connect with customers in this area, the site in 1947 of the first suburban mall in America. Closing poorly performing stores is an understandable business decision. But one store’s loss should be another’s gain.