By: Jim Kinney | [email protected]
Article Credit: MassLive
Macy’s announced Tuesday that its Holyoke Mall at Ingleside and Burlington Mall stores are getting significant upgrades as a part of its 2019 Growth150 initiative.
The plan saw old-line department store chain Macy’s renovate 50 stores in 2018 and another 100 in 2019, including Holyoke and Burlington.
“It’s fantastic news. They’ve made a real commitment to Western Massachusetts and the Holyoke store in particular,” said Bill Rogalski, general manager for the Holyoke Mall. “It’s kind of a wholesale makeover.”
The work, including painting, new LED lighting and updated flooring, as well as renovated fitting rooms and restrooms, has been ongoing since spring. Contractors do the renovations mostly at night, Rogalski said. The work is expected to be done before the upcoming holiday rush.
While he cannot delve into specifics, he said the Holyoke Macy’s has added in-store pickup for online orders and local order fulfillment and shipping services.
In-store pickup in particular is driving customer traffic
“Macy’s has done a phenomenal job of responding to the retail crunch,” Rogalski said.
Macy’s said the Holyoke Mall location now offers thredUP, fashion resale marketplace which creates, in the words of the news release, “an in-store thrifting experience for one-of-a-kind finds, and incredible deals on great brands, including ‘splurge’ brands customers might not otherwise buy new.”
Macy’s also touted improvements to the beauty department and technological improvements like Full Service Shopping technology in shoes, cutting customer wait time in half.Macy’s to close one Massachusetts store among nine stores company is closing nationwideThe closing list doesn’t include the Holyoke Mall store.
The 200,000-square-foot Macy’s location in Holyoke was built as part of the mall’s major expansion in 1995, Rogalski said. It was originally a Filene’s.
The mall opened in 1979 with a G. Fox. Hartford-based G Fox became a Filene’s in 1993, eventually moving to the anchor spot of the 1995 expansion. Filene’s became Macy’s after that chain was bought out by Federated Department Stores in 2005.
Macy’s, like all retailers, has been cutting locations in response to competition from online retail.
In January, it closed the Swansea Mall in Swansea, Massachusetts.
Macy’s closed stores at the Berkshire Mall store in Lanesborough, Enfield Square and Springfield’s Eastfield Mall in 2016.
Macy’s has 690 department stores under the nameplates Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s.