Macy's makes it official: Underperforming Sarasota, Tampa locations to close

Department store giant Macy’s officially announced the stores it plans to close in 2025 as part of what it’s calling its Bold New Chapter strategy it announced last February. The list, 66 stores in total, includes a pair of Macy’s in the region, one in Sarasota and one in Tampa. 

Those locations, according to the company, join five others in the Sunshine State that will be shuttered. The Tampa store is in the WestShore Plaza. Employees unofficially confirmed to the Business Observer late last year that it would be one of the ones to close its doors. Washington Prime Group, the mall’s owner, bought the Macy’s property Oct. 18 for $10 million.

The Sarasota location is in the center now known as The Crossings at Siesta Key. That property, about five miles south of downtown Sarasota, was previously the Westfield Southgate Plaza and before that the Southgate Mall. University Park-based Benderson Development is currently amid a permitting and approval phase to redevelop the property into a mixed-use lifestyle village with retail, commercial and residential components. (The Macy’s at the Mall at UTC, in north Sarasota County, wasn’t on the closure list.) 

The other Florida Macy’s that will close include a full-service store in Boynton Beach and furniture stores in Altamonte Springs, Fort Lauderdale, Pembroke Pines and South Dade, the company says. 

Macy’s, in the late Thursday announcement, says its Bold New Chapter strategy is “is designed to return the company to sustainable, profitable sales growth which includes closing approximately 150 underproductive stores over a three-year period while investing in its 350 go-forward Macy’s locations through fiscal 2026.” 

“Closing any store is never easy, but as part of our Bold New Chapter strategy, we are closing underproductive Macy’s stores to allow us to focus our resources and prioritize investments in our go–forward stores, where customers are already responding positively to better product offerings and elevated service,” Macy’s Chairman and CEO Tony Spring says in the release.