Richmond Macy’s closing, will lay off 133 employees.
The closure represents the loss of 133 jobs, says Richmond mayor
RICHMOND >> As part of a plan to close dozens of stores this year, Macy’s will shutter its Richmond location at the property once known as Hilltop Mall, according to a letter sent to the city and county from the company.
In closing the store, Macy’s will lay off 133 employees, according to Richmond Mayor Tom Butt, who shared a portion of Macy’s letter in an
email. The layoffs will happen from March 14 to March 27.
It’s part of a plan to close 125 stores through 2023 and cut about 2,000 corporate jobs, moves the company announced early last year.
It is also the latest development for the Hilltop shopping center, for which residents and city officials long have hoped for a developer to breathe new life into.
In 2017, LBG Real Estate Companies and Aviva Investors bought the 1.1 millionsquare-foot shopping center, which went into foreclosure in 2012 and then to the auction block. The company had
signed Taiwanese American grocery chain 99 Ranch Market to anchor the space, and the owners said it was all part of a plan to become a “robust and all-inclusive Asian- centric shopping and entertainment destination” that would include restaurants, family entertainment venues and new outlet stores. But the 99 Ranch Market project never went forward.
The mall owners also embarked on some renovations, including plans that did not materialize. Earlier in 2020, LBG representatives told the San Francisco Business Times that the property was rebranded as the East Bay Sci
ence and Technology Center and was up for sale.
“They have tried to brand it as a potential ‘ life sciences’ campus, but there is little interest. The only interest to date is from potential warehouse and distribution companies,” Mayor Butt said in his email.
The Macy’s closure will leave only Walmart at the former shopping mall, Butt said. The former retail giants that once anchored the property, including J.C. Penney and Sears, have closed their Hilltop stores in recent years.