Macy’s store for women to be shuttered

Federated Department Stores Inc. announced plans Tuesday to shed the

Macy’s Women’s Store at Fashion Island, potentially leaving a

significant vacancy at the Newport Beach shopping center.

“We don’t have a new retailer figured out for this store yet,”

Irvine Co. spokeswoman Jennifer Hieger said. The Newport Beach-based

Irvine Co. owns Fashion Island.

Hieger added that she has been informed that the Robinsons-May

store at Fashion Island will be converted to a full-service Macy’s

store. She said Irvine Co. executives view the impending vacancy as a

chance to enhance the diversity of stores at the Newport Beach

shopping center.

Federated, based in Cincinnati, revealed plans to close the store

at the same time it announced the completion of its merger with the

St. Louis-based May Department Stores Co. on Tuesday. In February,

Federated first announced plans to acquire May Department Stores.

Federated’s brands include Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s. Fashion

Island already has a Bloomingdale’s store. May’s lineup included

Robinsons-May.

People contacted at Fashion Island’s Macy’s Women’s Store and

Robinson’s-May location said they could not comment on the news.

Representatives at Federated’s corporate level could not be reached

late Tuesday.

In a release, Federated indicated that stores acquired in the

merger would keep their names through the end of the year. Sales of

stores slated for divestment are expected to begin next year.

Federated stated no merger-related layoffs will be announced before

March. According to a release, 169 people work at the Fashion Island

Macy’s store.

In July, Federated released a list of 68 stores that would be

sold. That list did not reveal the fates of any stores in

Newport-Mesa. The Newport Beach store, as well as stores in other

states, were added to the list to achieve regulators’ approval for

the merger.

A full-service Macy’s, two Macy’s specialty stores and a

Robinsons-May are in business at South Coast Plaza. Werner Escher,

the Costa Mesa shopping center’s executive director for executive and

international markets, said he has not received any information on

what will happen to South Coast Plaza stores.

In July, a Federated spokeswoman said Robinsons-May stores that

were not designated for sale or conversion into Macy’s stores could

be transformed into Bloomingdale’s stores.

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment. He can be

reached at (714) 966-4624 or [email protected].