Macy’s closing CityPlace store

Seventy-two people work at the downtown West Palm Beach location.

Macy’s said Wednesday that it would close more stores, including its store at CityPlace in West Palm Beach.

The 108,000-square-foot store at downtown West Palm Beach’s shopping plaza opened in 2000. The special Macy’s store, which focuses on clothes, shoes and accessories, employs 72 people and is expected to close by year-end, Macy’s said.

CityPlace, which is owned by Related Cos. in New York, said management has been in talks with Macy’s about their plans to close their store.

“Our goal is to not only bring a dynamic new use to this important location, but also ensure that the job base and economic contributions to the city and region are preserved or enhanced,” CityPlace said in a statement.

CityPlace opened over a decade ago, and its continuous evolution has been a critical element to maintaining its position as one of Palm Beach County’s most favorite shopping and entertainment destinations.”

No other South Florida stores are affected by the planned closures. But in Central Florida, stores in Lakeland, Oviedo, Sarasota and Tampa are expected to close by year-end, affecting 310 employees.

The planned national closure of 68 stores announced Wednesday is part of the 100-store closure announced in August 2016. Of the 68, three will be closed mid-year, 63 will be closed in early spring 2017, and two will be closed in mid-2017, Macy’s said. Three other locations were sold, or are scheduled to be sold, and are being leased back.

As a result, Macy’s said it expects a negative impact to its 2017 sales of about $575 million.

CEO Terry J. Lundgren said he is positioning the company to return to growth over time since “we continue to experience declining traffic in our stores where the majority of our business is still transacted.”

He said Macy’s is reacting to customers’ changing shopping behaviors, which include a focus on buying online and picking up merchandise in the store, as well as mobile shopping.

Macy’s, which has corporate offices in Cincinnati and New York, had fiscal 2015 sales of $27 billion. The company operates about 880 stores in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico under the names of Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Bloomingdale’s Outlet, Macy’s Backstage and Bluemercury.