Macy's downtown will close to the public on February 23. That's just nine shopping days from now!

There is so much to say about what Macy's has been to the American middle class, to immigrants' ideas about what "making it" means, and to the glittering world of holiday preparation. But in Seattle's downtown, it's too late to say it: Macy's is going away.

Credit: KUOW Photo/Juan Pablo Chiquiza

A lot of weird looking office equipment. It's a little distressing to find the places where salespeople folded your items and put them in bags turned into dusty repositories of strange equipment.

Credit: KUOW Photo/Juan Pablo Chiquiza

Jewelry: it's where the action is. Also, bedding. These are the sections where people are seriously, seriously out hunting for deals. I've seen people leave disappointed because they expected bigger discounts with the store closing. I've also seen shoppers actively stalking a ring or bracelet they clearly love, and they will tell the clerk: "I'll be back to visit it next week." I'm like: you do get that the shop is closing, right?

Credit: KUOW Photo/Juan Pablo Chiquiza

Hall of Mirrors I really wish I had words for the strange feelings one can have in a store that is closing. There's no sense of plenty, of beauty, or of safety in the storm of everyday in a store that it shutting down. Even its happy wall murals suddenly look garish.

Credit: KUOW Photo/Juan Pablo Chiquiza

Employee lockers Everything is for sale in a store that is closing, including light fixtures, strange tables, filing cabinets placed in a back room in 1974 and employee lockers. Pierre and Frederico: I wish you well.

Credit: KUOW Photo/Juan Pablo Chiquiza

So many mannequins and parts of mannequins