Macy's CEO: Will Close More Stores in 2026

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00:00A little bit earlier, I had a chance to catch up with the CEO of Macy's, Tony Spring, to talk about

00:05the increase in foot traffic specifically in department stores and obviously specifically

00:09in the big brands that he manages, including Macy's and Bloomingdale's, and his big turnaround

00:14strategy to lessen the overall footprint of some of those stores, a leaner, leaner organization.

00:20Take a listen to what he had to say. He said about improving the customer experience. So we've had

00:25record customer service scores. That's our net promoter score. Would people recommend Macy's

00:30to a friend? And we're seeing scores we've never thought possible at the brand. And that was a real

00:36focus of mine. We've improved the quality of the assortments. I thought there was way too much

00:41redundancy, way too many of the same things. And I thought the breadth of what we offer as a department

00:46store needed to improve. We need to go good, better, best, contemporary to classic in a range of brands,

00:52things, as we've talked about, that are convenient, that you've heard of, that you count on Staples,

00:57Levi's, Nike. And then at the same time, we've got to be there introducing new things that you

01:02haven't heard of that are becoming more popular because people are looking for that combination

01:07in a destination. We also wanted to make sure that our team was working together. So I'm a big

01:13believer that you need strategy, you need culture, you need leadership, and you need execution.

01:19We're now at the point where those four elements are coming together, and we're delivering a better

01:24experience for the consumer. But you can't kind of have one without the other, you know, a great

01:29culture without a great business, a great business without a great culture. The combination of elements

01:35is what I sought out to do when I kind of came into the role. And I do think that, you know,

01:40patience and determination go together. You have to have the patience to kind of lay out what you want

01:45to accomplish. You have to accept the fact that some things just don't happen because you snap

01:48your fingers. And then you have to have the determination, the ambition to kind of go after

01:53what you think is the right thing to do for the business. A big part of your strategy, this bold

01:57new chapter, is also to shrink the footprint of Macy's at its peak. You guys had, what, seven to 800

02:02stores. You're less than, what, 400 now, around 400. Around 400 today. And the plan is to go down to

02:09roughly about 350. You've done a big remodel of some of the existing stores already, 125. How much

02:16further does that go in 2026? We'll add more stores in 26 and we'll close some more stores in 26. And I

02:24think as you described, it is working on both sides of the equation. Closing stores is not alone a

02:29strategy. Reimagining stores without dealing with stores that are past their prime is not complete

02:35enough of a strategy. So we want to make sure that we're doing both things. And of course, it's supported

02:40by a healthier digital business. One that is both a place of transaction and a place of discovery. We want

02:47to build relationships with the consumer. That means we have to be able to provide a better experience

02:52where they live. We think of the digital business as a channel at times. And I'm like, no, the digital

02:57business is actually a geography. The people who shop digitally in New York shop in their stores in New York

03:03and they want to see a great experience digitally, physically, and in between.

03:09The CEO of Macy's Inc., Tony Spring, just about two years in to his big turnaround for the company,

03:16a bold new chapter as he terms it.