Macy's plans district offices for Massachusetts

The headline earlier this week was, "Macy's plans to eliminate 7,000 jobs," but the famous chain of department stores also noted that even as it cuts its company-wide workforce by 3.9 percent, it will be adding a small number of jobs in Massachusetts and other locations.

As part of the chain's "My Macy's Localization Initiative," the company is looking to open district offices in Boston, Peabody, and North Attleborough that will employ just under 25 people at each office; the mission of those offices will be to focus on district merchandising and planning, chain spokesman Jim Sluzewski said in an e-mail.

The initiative carves up Macy's national footprint into 69 districts that each cover about 10 to 12 stores, and the idea is that this effort will decentralize some of the decision-making on what merchandise gets stocked in which stores.

The hoped-for result is that stores will be stocked with merchandise that is better tailored and customized to demographics and shopping habits of the individual store's location.

"It's an entire flip of decision-making," Sluzewski said during a phone conversation about the initiative. "And it's not economy-driven. It's strategy-driven."

As a result of this initiative, Macy's will somewhat offset the number of company jobs being lost in Massachusetts. Each of Macy's stores will likely lose five to six positions as a result of the company-wide job cuts, Sluzewski said. Macy's operates 30 stores in Massachusetts.

To read a press release both the "My Macy's" initiative and the job cuts, please click here.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)