The Macy’s store at the Grand Traverse Mall will close its doors sometime next year, company representatives confirmed to The Ticker on Wednesday. The news comes after months of speculation that the Traverse City location of the famed department store chain would end up on the chopping block as the company consolidates operations nationwide.

According to local sources, employees at the Traverse City Macy’s were informed Wednesday morning that the store will close sometime this coming winter. Reached for comment on Wednesday afternoon, representatives at the Macy’s corporate level confirmed the news to The Ticker.

“As part of our new strategy to return Macy’s, Inc. to profitable growth and enhance the customer experience, Macy’s has sold its Macy’s store in Grand Traverse Mall in Traverse City, MI,” a Macy’s spokesperson shared in a written statement. “Under the agreement, we are leasing back the store and will continue to operate as normal through early 2025. We invite customers to continue shopping with us in-store at Macy’s Grand Traverse Mall, online at macys.com, and on the Macy’s App.”

Rumors of an impending closure for the Traverse City Macy’s store have been swirling for most of this year. The company announced plans in February to shutter 150 of its stores over the next three years, including at least 50 by the end of 2024. Sparse business at the TC Macy’s location, combined with troubles for the Grand Traverse Mall, led some to wonder whether the local store might be among those to close its doors.

The Ticker explored those rumors – and the broader woes of Grand Traverse Mall – in an article published earlier this month. At that time, a Macy’s spokesperson said that “final decision on specific locations [to be closed] has yet to be made.” Regarding the Traverse City location, the spokesperson said an “evaluation” was underway at the store, “comparing the potential real estate value and the future sales growth profitability.” The spokesperson added that, if at some point Macy’s does choose to close the Grand Traverse Mall location, that wouldn’t happen until at least 2025.

When the local Macy’s closes, it will mark the second anchor tenant to depart the Grand Traverse Mall in less than a year. Earlier in 2024, TJ Maxx departed its long-time space at the mall and relocated to the former Bed Bath & Beyond building at Buffalo Ridge. Depending on future plans for the Macy’s space, the exodus could leave the mall with just two anchor tenants: Target and JCPenney.

Macy’s representatives did not share any details about who had bought the building or what the next steps for the space might look like.

Macy’s is technically one of the mall’s longest-running fixtures, though it didn’t always operate under that name. The department store chain Hudson’s set up shop at the Grand Traverse Mall shortly after it opened in 1992, then converted to the Marshall Field’s brand in 2001. In 2006, all Marshall Field's stores switched over to Macy's branding, including the one in Traverse City.