Macy’s announced Wednesday it would close 40 locations, including its anchor store at the Irvine Spectrum Center.

Plans for the Irvine Spectrum store were not immediately announced. Of the 40 Macy’s stores, 36 will be closed in the spring while four closed in 2015. The Spectrum store was the only Macy’s in the county on the closure list.

Together, the stores accounted for $375 million in annual sales, Macy’s reported.

Macy’s also reported Wednesday its store closures would impact some 3,000 employees as well as 1,350 employees in back office and service center positions. Macy’s expects about half the affected associates will be moved to other positions.

Macy’s, with nine locations in Orange County, has roughly 770 stores in its portfolio.

“In today’s rapidly evolving retail environment, it is essential that we maintain a portfolio of the right stores in the right places,” Terry J. Lundgren, chairman and chief executive officer of Macy’s, Inc. said in a statement. “So we will continue to add stores selectively while also being disciplined about closing stores that are unproductive or no longer robust shopping destinations because of changes in the local retail shopping landscape.”

Retail analyst Greg Stoffel said the chain likely decided to close some stores because of increasing online sales and retaining more locations than the chain would like due to acquisitions.

“Online sales is likely a big portion of it,” retail analyst Greg Stoffel said. “The company also took on additional chains like Robinsons-May. They took on more locations then they would have otherwise.”

The Irvine Spectrum Macy’s was previously a Robinsons-May store.

Despite the closures, Macy’s also plans to open five new Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores, including one in Los Angeles.

Macy’s will also add 50 Backstage off-price locations, mainly inside existing Macy’s stores, and 40 freestanding Bluemercury beauty specialty stores.

Macy’s also announced Wednesday that its comparable sales declined by 4.7 percent during the months of November and December, compared with the same time last year.

Contact the writer: hmadans@ocregister.com or Twitter: @HannahMadans