Macy's Store Closings Creates Winners And Losers

On Thursday, brick-and-mortar retail suffered another heavy blow when Macy’s Inc M announced it's closing another 100 stores. The Macy’s closures represent about 15 percent of the company’s total number of department stores.

More retail store closures is yet another victory for e-commerce retail giant Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, which has single-handedly taken a huge bite out of the brick-and-mortar retail market.

However, retail stores aren’t quite dead just yet, and the Macy’s store closings could be a positive for some of its top competitors.

Related Link: What Do Macy's 100 Store Closures Mean For The Company?

J C Penney Company Inc JCP CEO Marvin Ellison addressed the impact of Macy’s and Sears Holding Corp SHLD closings on J C Penney’s recent conference call.

“When Sears closes in a mall that we’re in, it’s a net positive for JCPenney. Our sales increase. In some of the most recent Macy’s closures in malls in which we occupy, it’s been a net positive for JCPenney,” Ellison explained.

Other beneficiaries from the Macy’s closures likely include competitors such as Kohl’s Corporation KSS and Nordstrom, Inc. JWN.

On the other hand, for companies that derive a substantial amount of revenue from wholesale channels, the Macy’s closings could weigh on sales. For example, Macy’s is responsible for 12.7 percent of Michael Kors Holdings Ltd KORS sales and 11 percent of Ralph Lauren Corp RL sales.