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Macy's begins makeover of downtown St. Louis store

26.02.11

More clothing choices for office workers and additional furnishings for lofts and apartments are part of the makeover project to begin next week at Macy's in downtown St. Louis, the company said Friday.

The store will remain open during the remodeling, scheduled for completion in late May. Jim Sluzewski, Macy's spokesman, said the redone store will have "better flow."

"Some departments will be somewhat larger and some will be smaller," he said. "What you'll see is a different shopping experience."

Except for the first-floor candy counter, gone will be anyplace to get something to eat. Both of the store's restaurants closed Friday, putting 17 employees out of work.

The remaining 134 employees will keep their jobs, even though, as announced previously, Macy's will shrink to three floors from the store's current seven. The resulting 200,000-square-foot store will be about the size of Macy's suburban stores, Sluzewski said.

Sluzewski declined to divulge the cost of the store's remodeling, but said new paint and flooring throughout are included in the plan. He said the Papa Fabarre's restaurant on the second floor could not be kept open because its kitchen was on the sixth floor with the store's other now-closed restaurant, the St. Louis Room.

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch