LIHUE — Officials from Kukui Grove Center’s anchor tenant Macy’s, Inc. said the department store will lay off 2,500 employees and close five stores nationwide as a part of a cost reduction initiative despite a slight gain in sales last
LIHUE — Officials from Kukui Grove Center’s anchor tenant Macy’s, Inc. said the department store will lay off 2,500 employees and close five stores nationwide as a part of a cost reduction initiative despite a slight gain in sales last year.
Although none of the 13 Macy’s locations in Hawaii are on the chopping block, the number of local jobs that could be affected is still uncertain.
“The 2,500 layoffs are spread across more than 850 locations across the country, so it’s a small number in any one place,” Macy’s, Inc. spokesman Jim Sluzewski wrote in an email “We do not have a specific number for Hawaii.”
Other changes outlined Wednesday included combining the Cincinnati-based company’s Midwest and North Regions; realigning, combining and reducing some store positions; and trimming central office and administrative expenses.
In all, Macy’s, Inc. officials estimate the changes will generate about $100 million in cost savings each year beginning in 2014.
The announcement came on the heels of the company’s release of its sales figures, which show a 4.3 percent jump in sales during the 2013 holiday season — the sales in November and December combined — compared to the same time in 2012.
Sales, according to current Macy’s, Inc. projections, are scheduled to increase about 2.5 to 3 percent during the 2014 fiscal year compared to last year.
Construction is also underway to open a new Bloomingdale’s, a Macy’s, Inc. sister company, in fall 2015 at Ala Moana Shopping Center in Honolulu.
