Another Bay Area Macy's set to close

Pedestrians walk past the Macy's Men's Store in Union Square on August 11, 2016 at in San Francisco, California. Pedestrians walk past the Macy's Men's Store in Union Square on August 11, 2016 at in San Francisco, California. Photo: Michael Noble Jr., The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Michael Noble Jr., The Chronicle Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close Another Bay Area Macy's set to close 1 / 17 Back to Gallery

Yet another Bay Area Macy's is set to close as department stores and formula retail continue to decline across the country.

The Macy's at West Washington Avenue in Sunnyvale will shut its doors in the coming months. The closure follows the 2018 shutterings of Bay Area Macy's stores in Novato and Stonestown Galleria.

"Macy's, Inc. has been reviewing its real estate portfolio across the country to see if there are opportunities to improve the use of our assets," said Macy's spokesperson Emily Goldberg in an email. "As previously announced, Macy's has decided to close its Sunnyvale, California store in early 2019."

Developers Hunter Storm and Sares Regis Group of Northern California purchased the 177,000-square-foot Macy's building from Sand Hill Properties in 2018, anticipating the Macy's would eventually close.

The building will be redeveloped as part of the CityLine Sunnyvale Project, an ambitious 36-acre mixed-use project that includes retail and housing.

The store is hosting a "Final Clearance Sale" for the next eight to 12 weeks, Goldberg said. Regular, non-seasonal employees who cannot find placements at other local Macy's stores will be eligible for severance, she added.

"The decision to close stores is always a difficult one, but Macy's is delighted to have served the Sunnyvale community over the past 40 years," she said. There are about a dozen Macy's stores still standing in the Bay Area, including in San Francisco, Palo Alto, San Jose and Santa Clara.

A Whole Foods Store and AMC movie theater are the early cornerstones of the CityLine project. They are slated to open in 2019.

In 2016, Macy's announced plans to close 100 stores — at least 68 of which shuttered in 2017 — as traditional retail venues are increasingly unable to compete with the ease of use and short delivery windows of online retailers like Amazon. Last year, department store Sears filed for bankruptcy, and J.C. Penney's closed dozens of stores across the nation.

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Macy's shares were down more than 18 percent last week after Macy's chairman and chief executive Jeff Gennette announced weak sales over the holiday season.

Read Michelle Robertson's latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com.

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