Department stores like Macy’s are eerily quiet, with racks of unsold inventory, sparsely scattered customers, and a palpable sense of retail decline. Just a few storefronts away, Sephora is busy with shoppers—clusters of women testing products, associates providing tutorials, and registers ringing consistently.

This scene isn’t unique. It’s playing out across America as Macy’s begins closing 150 “underproductive” stores by 2026. Four Pennsylvania locations—Logan Valley Mall, Exton Square Mall, Philadelphia City Center, and Wyoming Valley Mall—are among the casualties of this strategic retreat.

The straightforward narrative is to see this as another chapter in the “retail apocalypse” story. But I see something different emerging.

Beauty will no longer be a department within the anchor store but the new mall anchor itself.

The Department Store Exodus

Macy’s isn’t simply closing stores—it’s executing a fundamental strategic shift. Its plan to focus on its remaining 350 locations while cutting underperforming stores speaks to a broader recognition that the traditional department store model requires reinvention.