Thread regarding Macy's Inc. layoffs

To the one who explained what a Neighborhood Store is.......our store is just now becoming one, and your description certainly seems to be accurate of what is happening.

I am curious as to how the Fine Jewelry area will be affected in the long run? Because basically, it appears that our store is basically going to be a place where people can return online orders and pick up online orders. Not much shopping to be had because of the drastic reduction in merchandise.

Maybe they are doing a wait and see how this new strategy effects Fine Jewelry??

Meanwhile, it appears theft is up in the rest of the store.

WOW. Thank you for explaining it. This sounds horrible

You want to know what a neighborhood store is? It's all of the merchandise crammed into less space, all of the work, with a bunch less people to do it. It's only one checkout on each floor, it's trying to get sales people to do the tasks of support people with little training and even less interest in doing so. It's tragically hilarious service levels during the holiday season and busy days made even more surreal when the reduced long term staff is supplemented by seasonal workers who receive little training and quit as soon as they experience their first shift.

The company can save itself the trouble of having to figure out which team members should be let go by simply starting the program. We had so much turnover in our store when we started this, that by the time January rolled around over half of the long term people who weren't let go when we changed to a neighborhood store quit to find work elsewhere.

How bad is it? It is so bad that our store manager locked them self away in the office for most of the holiday season. Wait until you have a ton of unfilled shifts going into Thanksgiving and running through Christmas while at the same time you're trying to pick thousands of orders. It was a complete disaster in our building, I have never seen so many employees frustrated, many of them just stopped caring and leaving at the end of the day with our store looking like a bomb went off became a common occurrence.

On a more positive note, you know how on 48 hour sales and during the holidays it's always a challenge to get back to the breakroom on busy days when walking past long lines of angry customers waiting in long lines, well with this new program you only have to avoid the crazy long lines at the checkout on each floor. No more having to cover your name tag and look at the floor when walking to the breakroom and trying to get off of your feet for 15 minutes.

I don’t understand what a neighborhood store is and or means. Please explain. Thanks

or maybe the IT staff that got laid off.....

What everyone seems to lose sight of when discussing stores converting to the neighborhood model is that the primary reason for the project is to keep more stores open. If your store is part of the N-100 conversion, yes you will lose floor space, 40% of your staffing, cash wraps, and merchandise assortment.but you will still have a store to work at.

If it wasn't for the fact that when we close stores Macy's online orders also drop as much as 50% since customers like being able to exchange or refund orders in our stores, then many if not most of the N-100 stores would be closing instead.

So if your store is converting, you can complain and resist the inevitable, or you can help your store manager and the rest of your team work through the change and have a successful fall season and collect PTG bonuses for all of the hours you work through the holidays.

Take a look at the retail apocalypse and realize that if you don't like the change or working at Macy's, there are plenty of people from Payless, Kmart, Sears, Victoria Secret, JC Penny, and others who would love your job.

Any store that is being considered already has a limited selection. Cutting to a bare bones selection and less stock compressed into 3/4 or less space is going to k--l the store. Hence why it was placed on hold to start with.