Center City Philadelphia Macy's store is closing. What's next for the Wanamaker Building?
The Macy's store on Market Street in Center City is set to close, Philadelphia officials announced on Thursday.
Macy's announced a plan in December to cut 150 underperforming stores by 2026.
One of two Macy's in Philadelphia, the Market Street store is housed in the famous Wanamaker Building close to City Hall. The store is set close sometime in March.
The building occupies an entire city block and contains hundreds of thousands of square feet of office space. It's also home to the swanky Crystal Tea Room wedding venue.
Building management could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
The 12-story building was built between 1902 and 1910 on the site of the Wanamaker Grand Depot. It's long been the home of the Wanamaker Organ, which retailer John Wanamaker purchased for the store in 1909.
According to the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ, it took 13 freight cars to transport all the pieces from St. Louis and two years to install in its Philadelphia home. With multiple additions since then, the organ today has over 28,000 pipes.
The organ has been featured in the long-running holiday music and light show in the building, narrated by Julie Andrews and featuring holiday characters from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to Frosty the Snowman.
Upstairs, the store housed the Dickens Village, a walkthrough animatronic display based on Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." The display was acquired from Strawbridge's down the street and installed in 2006.
Macy's also has a location at Roosevelt Mall in Northeast Philadelphia.
What's next for the Wanamaker Building?
While numerous city officials acknowledged it was a sad day for Philadelphia to lose the Macy's at the Wanamaker Building, they expressed optimism about its future along with the rest of Market East.
"This is an opportunity," Philadelphia City Council member Mark Squilla said. "Yes, we are saddened that Macy's has decided to move on from 65 stores throughout the country and Philadelphia is one of those stores that will no longer be active. But we know as we reimagine and as you heard, a planning process, a good planning process to look at Market East and what it can become. What it once was as our high street and it became our Market Street because that's where everyone came to shop and purchase items and now what it is today and where it's going to be in the future. We have a lot of challenging times ahead of us and that means we have to get to work."
It's still unclear what will replace Macy's, but Squilla said the property owner sees plenty of opportunity for a multi-use building with retail, office and residential space.
"Putting a solid plan together to look at East Market Street and say, 'Alright, what can it be? What are our opportunities?' And putting a good plan together to make it so that people see this plan and want to be a part of this new renaissance that we're having on East Market."
Part of the plan to revitalize Market East includes the new 76ers arena, which will be bound by Market, Filbert, 10th and 11th streets.
City officials said the Wanamaker Building won't sit vacant until 76 Place is set to open for the 2031 NBA season, but they expect the construction of the arena to help bring retailers in hopes of rebuilding the business corridor on Market East.
"We have a blank canvas," City Councilmember Curtis Jones said. "We can design it in the image of the Philadelphia that we want it to be. We have enough time, FIFA is coming and other major activities are coming. We have enough runway to redesign this corridor as a way to reflect Philadelphia and I'm actually kind of excited about it."
National trends on department store closures
Philadelphia used to have the "Big Six" department stores along Market East, including Strawbridge & Clothier, Gimbels, Lit Brothers and others, but that has since changed.
Across the United States, department stores like Macy's have closed. Since 2019, more than 1,800 department stores have closed nationwide.
Other big cities in the country have faced similar situations to Philadelphia when it comes to losing department stories.
Across the state in Pittsburgh, which was once home to five department stores, had its Macy's, formerly a Kauffman's, close in 2015. In Chicago, Macy's flagship location at Water Tower Place closed along the Magnificent Mile in 2021. The other Macy's location in Chicago has since shrunk its footprint over time.
"This is not a Philadelphia failure but a national trend that is affecting all large department stores across the country that has created a challenge for us," Paul Levy, the board chair of the Center City District, said.
Other Philadelphia region Macy's to close
The Macy's on Market Street isn't the only Delaware Valley location set to close.
The Macy's at the Exton Square Mall in Chester County is among the stores set to shut their doors.