Macy's closings to affect 1,500 workers

ATLANTA - Some 1,500 workers will lose their jobs when Federated Department Stores closes its Macy&#39;s stores in metro Atlanta, but it&#39;s not clear yet which ones. <br> <br> Individual employees will be notified about their job status later in the week. <br> <br> Federated Department Stores, the company that owns Macy&#39;s, also owns Rich&#39;s. Federated says it plans to consolidate the two stores -- which compete against each other at many shopping malls -- under one brand name at the already-existing Rich&#39;s stores. <br> <br> Rich&#39;s handed out a letter to employees today that says displaced Macy&#39;s employees in Atlanta will be given top priority for any open positions at Rich&#39;s, but assured current Rich&#39;s employees that they will not be bumped. <br> <br> The company said Thursday it will close the Macy&#39;s on Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta, as well as its stores at Gwinnett Place, Cumberland and Southlake malls. <br> <br> Macy&#39;s at Lenox Square and Perimeter Mall will be redesigned and reopened later this year as Bloomingdale&#39;s. <br> <br> Federated said it plans to close the stores in early April. <br> <br> The company plans to consolidate its Rich&#39;s and Macy&#39;s stores under one brand name. Both stores compete with each other at many metro Atlanta malls. <br> <br> In addition, the Macy&#39;s store in Town Center at Cobb will be closed, but one floor will be converted to a Rich&#39;s-Macy&#39;s furniture gallery that will reopen in the fall. The remainder of the Town Center Macy&#39;s store -- along with the four closed Macy&#39;s locations -- will be sold or leased for other retail use. <br> <br> Federated says 500 new employees will be hired for Bloomingdale&#39;s and 25 more workers will be hired for a new furniture store at Town Center. <br> <br> A total of 28 stores will begin branding themselves as Rich&#39;s-Macy&#39;s, beginning February second. These include the Macy&#39;s store at Northlake, as well as Rich&#39;s stores in Atlanta; Athens, Augusta, Columbus, Macon and Savannah; Birmingham, Alabama, and Columbia and Greenville, South Carolina.

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