In what surely seems like a win for downtown and for Mayor Daniel Lurie, regardless of whether he had a hand in it, Macy's has confirmed that it will not be closing its Union Square flagship store anytime soon, and will instead work with a developer to reimagine the property.

The announcement arrived Tuesday morning, as the Chronicle was first to report: Macy's is partnering with developer TMG Partners for the future development of its 600,000-square-foot store property, which spans most of the block on the southern side of Union Square Park between Geary and O'Farrell streets. TMG, and its CEO Michael Covarrubias, say they are "wildly excited" to begin work on reimagining the massive property alongside Macy's.

Covarrubias tells the Chronicle that they are still discussing the "right choice of uses" for the future development, and that they see great potential "for that building, in that place, at this time."

TMG is also involved with the renovation at 149 New Montgomery Street, the former Yelp headquarters, and the firm is in contract to purchase the Metreon complex, with plans to reimagine that as well.

This is good news for Union Square as a whole, as it struggles to fill a large number of vacancies — and as retailers are likely wary of filling those empty spaces on Powell and Stockton streets not knowing whether anchor store Macy's might close up shop within months.

Macy's announced in February 2024 that it had plans to abandon Union Square, as part of a larger sell-off of store properties nationwide. But the company said its store would not close until it found a buyer for the property.

Today's announcement makes it sounds like Macy's will remain in place for an extended period as the development plans take shape, and/or it sounds like a Macy's store could still have a place in the future redevelopment of the property.

This could still bring some disruption to the Union Square area, but there has been talk of building housing there going back at least five years. In early 2020, Sand Hill Property Co proposed turning the former I Magnin property at Geary and Stockton — which is connected to the Macy's property — into a mixed-use tower with 21 luxury condos in the mix.

In 2023, the SF Board of Supervisors loosened zoning restrictions around downtown and Union Square, allowing for offices on upper stories on parcels previously zoned as "retail only."

The decline of large-scale department-store retail in downtown areas is something being felt in cities across the country, and the announcement of the possible closure of the Union Square Macy's store came with the announcement that the chain would close 150 under-performing stores by 2026.

Macy's previously closed and sold off its former men's store on Stockton Street in 2016, and that has since been redeveloped as office space, with the Japanese-Peruvian restaurant Chotto Matte on its top level.

In other positive news for Union Sqare, Japanese retailer Uniqlo has plans to revive the former Old Navy store on Market Street, and other retailers like John Varvatos are returning to the area as well after previously closing stores. And the city and the Union Square Alliance are moving forward with a plan to revamp the lower three blocks of Powell Street, adding new lighting, pavers, and wider sidewalks, in an effort to attract retail back to the street.

Previously: Retail Experts Weigh In On Macy's Union Square Closure, Saying Downtown Shopping May Be a Thing of the Past

Supervisor and mayoral candidate Aaron Peskin was on TV Thursday night discussing the city's efforts to cajole the Macy's organization to change its mind about closing the San Francisco store.

"We are actually in active discussions with people high-up in the Macy’s organization at the national level and seeing if they will spare San Francisco," Peskin told NBC Bay Area Thursday. "We have sent our highest level people, so fingers crossed."

Lest Peskin be seen taking credit for such an effort, Mayor London Breed — who is currently in China — put out a statement to the Chronicle today, essentially saying she is one of those "highest level people" talking to Macy's.

"The Mayor had a conversation with the CEO of Macy’s last Friday and we are continuing to talk with them about the future of the site," says the mayor's spokesperson Jeff Cretan.

Macy's is reportedly hoping to sell its 400,000-square-foot store on Union Square as the company faces dwindling profits and low foot traffic, particularly at its more urban locations. The company announced its intention in February to close 150 under-performing stores, with the San Francisco store being one of them.

50 stores are set to close in the near term, with the Union Square location likely to close in early 2026, at least as of now.

Following the closure announcement, retail experts weighed in to discuss how modern shopping patterns have largely shifted away from downtown retail districts like this — and that Macy's customers have largely moved to the suburbs.

Breed sent a letter to Macy's CEO Tony Spring earlier this month, as the Chronicle reports, saying in part, "It is of paramount importance to me that a significant retail presence is maintained at Macy’s Union Square flagship store prior to and continuing through any redevelopment or change in ownership."

Breed also pledged to work on "strategies, incentives, and concessions" for any potential new tenant in the space or buyer for the buildings the store occupies.

Peskin's comments came following a panel discussion last night at Manny's about the future of Union Square, with development experts and retail brokers.

Peskin also says that the supervisors are hoping to have money in the coming year's budget to activate the actual park in Union Square "almost everyday" starting this summer, with music and other stuff.

"Part of our mission is to make Union Square more of a neighborhood and when you have more of a 24-hour place, Union Square hasn’t been a 24-hour place," Peskin tells NBC Bay Area.

In some related news, the Chronicle reported Friday that three of the vacant retail spaces inside the former Westfield mall, now called Emporium San Francisco Centre, are now leased up — though the receiver company currently running the complex, Trident Pacific, has not said what the new store tenants will be. One of the spaces was the former Burberry, and all three spaces are on the ground level near Bloomingdale's.

Previously: Macy's to Close Its San Francisco Union Square Flagship, In Huge Blow to City Retail

Top image: Broken Sphere/Wikimedia

It's certainly terrible news for Mayor London Breed's bid for reelection this year that another major department store is announcing its closure in the heart of SF. And now Breed seems to be hedging on the news.

Mayor London Breed was on KRON4 Tuesday afternoon doing damage control about this Macy's closure news. And while Macy's hasn't actually commented on the closure itself, it was Breed's own office that did the confirming this morning that the Union Square store is on the chopping block and likely to be sold.

Still, Breed said on KRON4, "The first tranche of locations that they are closing don't include San Francisco. [So] It's not 100 percent certain what would happen to this Macy's and whether or not something could happen between now and then."

Breed also was quick to note that in her conversation with Macy's brass, crime was not brought up as a main factor in this closure — even though the SF Standard ran with this headline about shoplifting being to blame.

"Crime trends are going down," Breed said. "When I talked to folks at Macy's, that was not mentioned in its factors to close because it was about its entire portfolio, it's about the profitability and the changes in retail and how people are shopping."

Breed issued several statements Tuesday about the closure, including an initial one saying she would "work closely with Macy’s and any potential new owner to ensure this iconic location continues to serve San Francisco for decades to come."

The chances of finding another retailer who wants or needs a 400,000-square-foot store seem mighty slim, but maybe traditional retail won't end up being the answer. "I’m also continuing to talk to leaders in retail, business, and real estate about how we can continue to focus on the long-term success of this site and others,” Breed's statement said. "There is tremendous opportunity at this site, and I know this City will continue to draw new investments and ideas."

Breed was also asked by reporters today, per the Chronicle, about whether this news signals doom for big retailers like Bloomingdale’s and Neiman Marcus, and Breed "was unequivocal," the Chronicle says, insisting that those stores are committed to staying put and are doing "really well."

Mayoral hopeful and former SF supervisor (and, briefly, interim mayor) Mark Farrell was quick to leap on this news today, telling the Chronicle it "points to the failed leadership of City Hall over the last five and a half years" and the city "cannot afford another four years" of Breed being in charge."

They failed. Period," Farrell said. “Results matter… this can’t be spun as anything other than a train wreck for this administration."

Among the other Bay Area Macy's locations set to close, the Chronicle reports that the San Rafael location at Northgate Mall is one, and we already learned in January that the Macy's at Bayfair Center in San Leandro is set to close this year.

Previously: Retail Experts Weigh In On Macy's Union Square Closure, Saying Downtown Shopping May Be a Thing of the Past

One of the main anchors of Union Square since 1947, Macy's, is going away in the next couple of years, and without it or anything of that scale to replace it, how long can Union Square remain a shopping destination?

It was very bad news for San Francisco officials and for all Union Square retailers Tuesday when we learned that Macy's plans to sell its 400,000-square-foot store in the next year or two and eventually close the store its had there for nearly 80 years.

This follows Macy's earlier closure of its Stonestown Galleria location in 2018, at a time when the company announced the closure of 100 locations nationwide. And Tuesday announcement came with news of 150 more "underproductive" stores set to close. That will leave Macy's with 200 locations remaining, after the closures occur, along with its Bloomingdale's and Bluemercury stores.

That is a reflection of how poor the state of department-store retail is, especially in urban centers — with experts saying that stores like Macy's have found, for a number of years, their customers have mostly moved to the suburbs, and suburban locations still are doing okay.

"Union Square doesn’t need to exist in the modern framework of local consumer demand,” says Christopher Thornberg, an economist and founder of Beacon Economics, speaking today to the Chronicle. With fewer people traveling to downtown for work, and people finding more of what Macy's sells through online shopping, shopping hubs in downtowns don't work the way they used to.

"This is a Union Square problem. Not a San Francisco problem," Thornberg adds.

Similar discussions happened last summer around the closure of Nordstrom in the SF Centre complex — and today's announcement means that Macy's-owned Bloomingdale's could be the last big-format retailer left in a couple years time, unless the SF Centre receiver finds some retail tenant who wants Nordstrom's former 300,000-square-foot store.

But the blows to the area have only continued, with over two dozen stores closing in the last couple of years including Old Navy's flagship, H&M, Crate & Barrel, The Gap, Barney's, and an Anthropologie location that had lived on Market Street for two decades.

The Union Square Macy's store was rebranded as Macy's in 1947, with the original store that lived on the property being the homegrown department store O'Connor, Moffatt & Co. R.H. Macy & Co. acquired O'Connor Moffatt in 1945, and by September 1949, the company had acquired the adjacent property at 170 O'Farrell Street and opened much of the enormous, multi-level store we know today, with street frontage on Geary, Stockton, and O'Farrell.

Macy's would later acquire the San Francisco-based luxury I. Magnin brand, and I. Magnin's modern building at the corner of Geary and Stockton was incorporated into the complex after the shutdown of the I. Magnin brand in 1995. Combined with the separate Macy's Men's Store building on Stockton Street, opened in 1984, the entire complex clocked in at 1.1 million square feet by the late 90s, making this one of the largest department stores in the country.

The men's store closed in 2016 and menswear was re-absorbed into the main building, with Macy's Co. getting some cash out of the sale of that building. As retail belts continued to be tightened in the last decade, the company also sold the former I. Magnin building to a developer in 2019, even though it remains connected to the original Macy's.

The impending closure of Macy's is going to act as another death knell for the outdoor "mall" that Union Square was. Without anchors that are shoppers' main destination — like Nordstrom and Macy's — smaller specialty stores can start to whither as well. Though, the situation may be helped by the dozens of high-end brands that continue to have a presence around Union Square like they have on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, and in other clusters of luxury retail.

There also, still, are big clothing retailers Saks, Neiman Marcus, and Bloomingdale's — even though Neiman's already filed for bankruptcy in 2020.

"We have to adapt. We have to evolve," says mayoral candidate Daniel Laurie, speaking to the Chronicle today. "We need to get people down [to Union Square] at all times of the day. So you can’t just be thinking about daytime and shopping, but how do we get restaurants and nightlife here and music and concerts down here activating Union Square?"

One thing is certain: People who know the industry aren't shocked about Macy's decision. One retail analyst, Sucharita Kodali, tells the Chronicle that Macy's has a lot to answer for right now to its shareholders — including a 4% dip in its online sales last quarter compared to the same quarter in 2022, which Kodali calls "highly unusual" for any company right now.

"Retailers close stores that aren’t performing and the reason that stores don’t perform can be a multitude of reasons," says Alex Sagues, vice president for retail with brokerage firm CBRE, speaking to the Chronicle. "It’d be impossible not to attribute some of the [problem to] conditions in San Francisco... But that’s certainly not entirely responsible. At the end of the day, the biggest impact on sales is consumer demand. And I think if Macy’s is closing the store, it’s because the store is not performing, which is a reflection of the demand for what they’re selling."

Previously: Macy's to Close Its San Francisco Union Square Flagship, In Huge Blow to City Retail

Top image: Broken Sphere/Wikimedia

Macy's announced plans today to close 150 of its "underproductive" stores nationwide, with 50 of them to close this year. And now we have confirmation that San Francisco's enormous — and often empty — store is among them.

In perhaps an even bigger blow to San Francisco's Union Square retail district than last year's closure of Nordstrom, the Macy's corporation reportedly has plans to shutter its massive, nearly block-wide store that it's occupied for decades. As the SF Business Times reports, via the mayor's office, the Union Square store will not be among the 50 Macy's that are set to close in 2024.

Macy's is reportedly seeking a buyer for the 400,000-square-foot property — which does not include the 240,000-square-foot former I. Magnin portion of the store. That property, which is a free-standing building though connected to Macy's on upper floors, was sold to a developer in 2019.

Macy's executives have not yet confirmed or commented on the news, but London Breed rushed a statement to the SF Chronicle about the near future for the store:

"The process to undergo the sale of their building to a new owner with their own vision for this site will take time, and Macy’s will stay open for the foreseeable future and people will remain employed at the store. Macy’s has expressed to me their commitment to remaining a part of Union Square and our City while they undergo this transition. The City will continue to work closely with Macy’s and any potential new owner to ensure this iconic location continues to serve San Francisco for decades to come.”

Macy's previously closed and sold off its 260,000-square-foot men's store and corporate office building on Stockton Street, nearly a decade ago.

Breed also spoke to the Business Times saying, "It’s hard to think of Macy’s not being part of our city anymore. Change is happening in San Francisco."

Breed added, "This is why it’s so important we continue to make law changes at local and state levels, and that we reform our tax laws to recruit and retain businesses."

Macy's continues to operate 19 stores in the Bay Area, in addition to Bloomingdale's locations like the one still open at the SF Centre. In an earnings call today, newly appointed CEO Tony Spring told reporters and investors that the company plans to refocus more on its Bluemercury cosmetics stores, and on Bloomingdale's — adding a total of 45 new locations across both brands.

"Our threshold to keep stores open has become more stringent," Spring reportedly said. "Having the right footprint and location is important. But we must also have the right product at a value that we know appeals to our customers."

It would have seemed a few years ago like the huge, well-established Union Square store would be one of the company's most cherished properties. But perhaps, given declining foot traffic to department stores in general, it was too expensive and "unproductive" of a store to maintain.

The loss of this store, when it happens in a year or two — or three — will also mean the loss of 500 union jobs.

"We are disappointed to hear about the closure of the historically significant Macy’s store in Union square," says John Frahm, president of UFCW Local 5 (United Food and Commercial Workers), which represents Macy's employees, speaking to the Business Times. "We will do everything we can to ensure that the members of UFCW 5 transition into good jobs and will work with the city leadership to ensure if Macy's opens up other stores in the city that the workers enjoy the same opportunities for having a voice at their job."

Related: Nordstrom to Shutter Downtown SF Department Store, and Nordstrom Rack, This Summer

Top image: Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

Photo: Darwin Bell/Instagram

The annual tradition of seeing adoptable puppies and kittens in the windows of Macy's in Union Square, courtesy of the SPCA, will be more of a virtual affair this year.

In the interest of protecting staff members and the general public during the pandemic, the SPCA will not be bringing live animals to Macy's this year, as the Chronicle reports. Instead, the traditional holiday window displays will feature video screens showing adoptable pets instead — with the occasional "pop-up" adoption event onsite.

For the past 18 holiday seasons, the windows at Macy's Union Square have featured bedecked playpens for furry friends, including model trains that kittens liked to intentionally derail. But this is actually 34th year that the SPCA has partnered with a store for a holiday window display in San Francisco in order to encourage pet adoption.

"We wish we could bring our wonderful live animals into Macy’s Union Square today, but this year you will see them on screens throughout the store and here on our website," the SPCA says in a statement.

Adopting pets has been a major trend of this pandemic year, in this city and elsewhere, and the SPCA tells the Chronicle that they've received 3,000 applications per month from would-be pet parents since March — far exceeding the number of available pets. In a normal year, the organizations adopts out about 4,000 animals, and this year they're on track to find homes for 4,500, with another month left to go in the year.

The SPCA has been posting photos of newly adoptable animals every morning on their website, leading to a rush of applications for each one. Prospective adopters are first screened in a phone interview, and then possibly permitted to come meet the animal by appointment.

With the puppies and kittens in the Macy's windows, wrapping around the corner at Stockton and O'Farrell, along with an adoption center inside the store, the SPCA says it typically adopted out 200 to 300 onsite over the holidays. That tradition will continue with a few "pop-up" days with onsite adoptions for a handful of animals, but otherwise people will need to go through an online application process and wait for a possible phone interview — and the animals seen in the featured videos this year won't necessarily be the ones available in a given week.

And, if you just need a moment of delight in your day, you can tune into the live feed, which will alternately feature kittens and pups through the end of the year.

Here's a video promoting volunteering for the 2016 holiday windows:

The annual spring Flower Show at Macy's Union Square kicks off Sunday, March 24, and the theme this year is "Journey to Paradisios."

And lest you think that has something to do with Latin America, "Paradisios" is supposed to be a planet, I guess?

"Embark on a space odyssey of your wildest dreams," Macy's says on the event website. "Our 'Journey to Paradisios' show takes you to an otherworldly realm of glorious blossoms, lush plant life and amazing flora. Experience what could exist in the great beyond."

The only previews we have come from social media in cities where the flower show has already been previewed. The Macy's Flower Show is happening simultaneously, Sunday to Sunday, in New York, Chicago, and SF.

Anarchy, très chic.

Attention Animal Lovers: This Friday at 5 p.m., Macy's will unveil their annual holiday window displays filled with scampering adoptable kittens and puppies from the San Francisco SPCA.

The selection of pets will rotate each day and can be adopted right from the adoption outpost at Macy’s -- after the SFSPCA’s experts have helped you "Meet Your Match". Last year, over 300 animals found new homes and more than $50,000 was raised for the SFSPCA.

Sign up to volunteer as a Window Display Greeter or Matchmaker. Better yet, get your friends or co-workers together and volunteer as a group.

The display will be up through January 2, 2011 and the window and volunteer hours will vary. (See this PDF for the schedule.)

Want a Cody Ross autograph? Then head over to the Macy's men's store this morning and be among the first lucky 300 people to purchase $25 worth of official championship gear! Ross will be there at Noon with his Sharpie. Too bad he won't be at Ross, so he can sign the autographs, you know, "I got it at..." [FunCheapSF]