Macy’s makes incremental progress on 3-year plan

New York – Macy’s Inc. wrapped up the first year of its Bold New Chapter initiative with its best comp performance in 11 quarters, although the growth was minimal.

The company achieved its best owned-plus-licensed-plus-marketplace comparable sales since the first quarter of 2022, up 0.2%. Comps were down 1.1% on an owned basis.

Looking within the same-store sales silos:

• Macy’s First 50 locations delivered fourth consecutive quarter of comparable sales growth, up 0.8% on an owned basis and up 1.2% on an owned-plus-licensed basis.
• The Macy’s nameplate’s comp on an owned-plus-licensed-plus-marketplace basis was down 0.9%
• At the 350 stores Macy’s intends to keep in its fleet, comp on an owned-plus-licensed-plus-marketplace basis were down 0.5%
• Bloomingdale’s reported owned comparable sales growth of 4.8% and its highest fourth quarter owned-plus-licensed-plus-marketplace comparable sales growth of 6.5%.
• Bluemercury reported 16th consecutive quarter of comparable sales growth, up 6.2%

The company has now closed 64 of the 150 Macy’s store locations it plans to shutter by the end of 2026. It has not announced how many more are slated to go dark this year.

“We are entering the second year of our Bold New Chapter as a healthier but smaller enterprise,” said Adrian Mitchell, COO/CFO.

Total Macy’s Inc.’s net sales for Q4 decreased 3.5% to $22.3 billion. Net sales at the Macy’s chain were down 5.3% while net sales at Bloomingdale’s rose 2.3% during the quarter.

The company ended the year with $1.3 billion in cash on its balance sheet, up $272 million from last year.

“As we enter the second year of our strategy, we plan to scale initiatives that are resonating with our customers to drive long-term profitable growth and further unlock shareholder value,” said Tony Spring, chairman CEO of Macy’s. Inc.

See also:

• First 50 expansion at the heart of Macy’s ‘right side of the ledger’ strategy
• Macy’s sources from Europe to celebrate Hotel brand anniversary