Macy’s posts $400 million loss as sales drop 36%

NEW YORK (AP) — Macy’s got more people to shop on its website and app, but it wasn’t enough to make up for plummeting sales inside its department stores.

Online sales were up 53%, and the company said it attracted 4 million new online customers. But sales sunk 61% inside its stores, which reopened in June after being temporarily closed due to the pandemic.

Macy’s is the country’s largest department store operator, offering a glimpse into what America’s are buying.

With people spending more time at home, shoppers bought fewer dresses, luggage and men’s suits. But they spent more on comfy athletic wear, as well as decor to spruce up their homes. Macy’s said luxury goods did surprisingly well, too, such as high-priced mattresses, perfumes and diamond jewelry. The New York company also owns Bloomingdale’s and the Bluemercury makeup and cosmetic chain.

Many of its department stores are at malls, which have struggled to attract shoppers even before COVID-19. Some of its mall-based rivals have gone bankrupt, including J.C. Penney, Neiman Marcus and Stage Stores.

Over the next two years, Macy’s said it plans to open smaller Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores that are not attached to a mall.

For the holiday season, it will spread out discounts over a longer period to avoid overcrowding at its stores and continue to push shoppers to buy online and pick up at the curb.

The virus is also forcing Macy’s to rethink how it will hold its annual holiday events, like Christmas tree lightings, holiday window decorations and its annual Thanksgiving Day parade. But the company didn’t provide any details on changes it plans to make.

Overall, the company reported a second-quarter loss of $431 million, or $1.39 per share, after posting a profit in the same quarter a year ago.

Adjusted losses came to 81 cents per share, which was better than the loss of $1.78 per share Wall Street analysts expected, according to Zacks Investment Research.

Revenue fell 36% to $3.56 billion in the period, also topping analyst expectations.

Shares of Macy’s Inc., which are down nearly 60% so far this year, rose less than 1.5% to $7.12 in midday trading Wednesday.

Associated Press

Would You Buy A House Built on Top of a Shopping Mall?

When I was kid, I thought it would be awesome to live in a mall. My family and I stayed in a hotel built in or on top of one: We could go get Starbucks for breakfast in our PJs and if I ever needed something new and shiny to validate my existence, it was readily available. Of course, even I thought there were limits to what living above a mall could be like; for instance, I always assumed that living in a building like that meant you pretty much had to live in an apartment. I was a foolish child. You can both live in a house and live above a mall, thanks to the Chinese. You can have it all, people.

Zhuzhou Jiutian Real Estate, a developer in Zhuzhou, China, the second largest city in the Hunan province, has actually built a set of houses on top of a shopping mall. It’s a perfect solution, really, for someone who loves or needs to live in the city, but wants suburban comforts like a lawn and personal privacy.

According to China Daily, putting gardens and other community areas with vegetation on building rooftops is rapidly becoming a national trend in China. So it’s not that this thought hasn’t been had before. In Beijing, all new buildings under 12 stories are legally required to feature “green rooftops.”

The “neighborhood” has four houses, each with a pretty large amount of surrounding property. Zhuzhou Jiutian built the houses at the same time as the mall itself. I’m pretty sure that made the process a lot easier. There is only one problem. While the houses are fully functional with working electricity and plumbing, they’re technically commercial structures. The houses will function as office space for the mall’s staff. What a waste!

Still, even if the design isn’t reaching its maximum potential, the roof-house design does show an interesting new way to think about urban planning.

source: geekosystem.com