By Mark Hallum
Plans have been filed at 242-02 61st Ave. in Douglaston for changes to the spaces currently occupied by Macy’s Department Store and MovieWorld theater. According to the city Department of Buildings, the Alt-1 permit is to convert the spaces into a Lowe’s Home Improvement Center.
The address is shared by both businesses which sit adjacent to each other.
Perry M. Petrillo Architects put in the application for the job in November.
Macy’s announced in August that its Douglaston location would be shutting down in conjunction with an August announcement that 100 stores would be shuttered around the country due to a decline in in-store sales.
“The announcements we are making today represents an advancement in our thinking on the role of stores, the quality of the shopping experience we will deliver, and how and where we reinvest in our business for growth,” Macy’s President Jeff Gennette said Aug. 11. “In the short term, our company’s topline sales will be somewhat smaller, but the changes being made will position us to grow comparable sales more quickly and generate a level of profitability that stands out among retailers,”
The move was undertaken to redesign the portfolio of the business to accommodate the decrease in revenue and retain $1 billion by cutting down on overhead.
“We’re getting out in front of this,” Chief Executive Officer Terry Lundgren said on CNBC. “We’re going to still have over 530 stores in all the key markets. Forty-nine of the top 50 markets in the United States when we’re done with all of this.”
Lundgren went on to note that Macy’s is slightly behind Amazon in sales, but the smaller portfolio of Macy’s stores supplemented with the company’s own online business should be a profitable game plan going forward.
The company’s sales from the first quarter of 2016 were down 7.4 percent from 2015’s $6.2 billion, according to Macy’s 2016 earning statement.
MovieWorld’s owners and Lowe’s Home Improvement Center could not immediately be reached for comment.
Reach reporter Mark Hallum by e-mail at mhall
