River Ridge Macy new stores

Macy’s, Hallmark are closing at the River Ridge Mall in the coming months

River Ridge Mall will undergo several changes in 2017, with Macy’s closing in the next few months, according to the News & Advance.

The shutdown of the Lynchburg Macy’s is part of a nationwide restructuring the chain retail store is currently undergoing, in which they are closing 100 of their stores.

The locations for 68 of these stores were announced the first week of January.

MALL — The Macy’s store in the River Ridge Mall will close in March. The building space will be replaced by a few new shopping locations. Photo Credit: KirKland Gee

MALL — The Macy’s store in the River Ridge Mall will close in March. The building space will be replaced by a few new shopping locations.
Photo Credit: KirKland Gee

The 100 stores closing represent 15 percent of the Macy’s in the United States and will result in the loss of 10,000 total jobs.

This announcement and decision is the result of disappointing holiday sales in 2016, according to thebalance.com.

Macy’s will be hosting sales for the next month and a half until the anticipated closing date of March 31, as reported by WSET.

Once the doors close for the final time as a Macy’s, it may not be long until they reopen under a different name.

“We have already identified high quality tenants to replace Macy’s but cannot disclose their identities until the deal is done,” Liberty University President Jerry Falwell said.

“It will be very beneficial to the redevelopment of the mall.”

Liberty has been helping develop River Ridge Mall since it purchased a 75 percent share in 2016.

Plans include an outdoor retail mall that will serve as the new main entrance to the mall.

This decision was based on market, the current retail environment, the retailers the mall hopes to attract and other factors, according to Ira Fratrik, a general manager for CBL & Associates Inc. who owns a minority share of the mall.

Throughout this redevelopment, the goal of CBL through River Ridge remains the same.

“Like any mall that strives to serve the community’s needs, we want to provide a place where people can come shop, dine and have entertainment choices,” Fratrik said.

SALE — The store will run sales for the next month and a half until its official closing. Photo Credit: KirKland Gee

SALE — The store will run sales for the next month and a half until its official closing.
Photo Credit: KirKland Gee

Macy’s is not the only Lynchburg store to close recently, as the J. Crew clearance store several miles from the mall closed January 10, according to WSET.

One of the reasons for this closing was due to the shift towards online shopping, which Business Insider reported as one of the factors contributing to the Macy’s downsizing as well.

In contrast with the Macy’s closing though, J. Crew employees will be reassigned to new positions and not lose their jobs.

The local warehouse sales will continue to take place, and customers will be notified when these are planned to occur.

WSET also reported that the Hallmark store in the mall is closing February 22.

It is not yet known why the Hallmark store is closing or which retailer may replace the storefront in the mall.

It is not yet known when construction on the mall will commence, or when the expected date of completion for the outdoor shopping center will be.

Price is a news reporter.

One comment

  • I have gone shopping for the last few weeks buying gifts for my family and preparing for the new school year.Saturday August 12,2017 I sat down and just took a good look around the mall.In the 80’s the Mall was so beautiful and full of stores and now it’s beginning to look so cold and old looking.The Mall was busy and I talked to a few people and they also were feeling the same way as I. We love shopping at the Mall , but why can’t you bring in more stores,paint and fix it up.The people I spoke with and myself don’t care for the strip malls at all and why did you promise to remodel and bring in nice stores and nothing has happened.
    We need nice stores and stop bring in this gothic looking stuff. We need Sears back, Carter’s store for kids,Formal for a lot of people don’t care to go downtown because of parking and it doesn’t look safe.You have taken Sears out and now look at it just another empty space.River Ridge can be turned around with a large gain if you would reach out to the public and the University students by having a clean,beautiful safe place to shop and help our community.
    We were told that a lot of changes were going to be made and new stores in 2017,well the year will be up soon and what have we got.Nothing.
    The Holidays will be here before we turn around and I hope you will present the Mall to the people with decorations like a few years back for the children and us adults.
    Our communities are losing everything especially our HOPE in our tomorrow.
    Thank You and Sincerely,
    Kay Caldwell

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