Joani Fine and her brother emerged from the new Macy’s store at the Randhurst Village shopping center in northwest suburban Mount Prospect last week praising the friendly service — as well as the good price on the Michael Kors coat they purchased. Just one thing, Fine noted: “We didn’t go upstairs.” Actually, this Macy’s has no upstairs, though you can’t blame Fine for thinking a normal department store would. Macy’s latest new format is sharply scaled down from the typical department store of the past. At 37,649 square feet, the store occupies only part of the first floor previously used by a Carson Pirie Scott store that stood on the site. A HomeGoods outlet occupies the other 24,000 square feet of first-floor retail space from the long-gone Carson’s. Department stores aren’t what they used to be, as Macy’s latest effort to shrink its footprint indicates. E-commerce makes up 16% of U.S. retail sales today, and while apparel is the stock-in-trade at Macy’s, it’s also a big seller online. Consumer shopping habits continue to swing against big-box stores and enclosed malls, not only because of competition from Amazon and other e-tailers, but also because consumers are avoiding them. Earlier this year, Macy’s announced plans to shutter 150 underperforming stores. Once-great merchants such as Sears and Kmart are dim memories for many shoppers today — let alone the likes of Carson’s, Marshall Field’s and Wieboldt’s, which for generations had multilevel flagships along State Street downtown. As of last year, according to data firm CoStar Group, store sizes were the smallest they’d been in the 17 years it has tracked the metric. High rent is one factor leading retailers to shrink, as are reduced inventories. Merchants increasingly mine information from online orders, social media and foot traffic analytics to pare less-profitable items from their shelves. Shoplifting, employee theft and other forms of fraud also have worked against sprawling stores packed with a wide array of goods. When shoppers enter Macy’s in Mount Prospect, the smell of fresh paint mingles with the aroma of Prada Paradoxe and Valentino fragrances, which are front and center, along with cosmetics. Popular clothing brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren are prominently featured, taking up much of the floor space. A small section of clothes and toys for children are squeezed into the back — and that’s about it. Other departments such as furniture, carpets and home goods that filled out department stores of the past have no place in the reduced-size format. This downsizing presents a challenge for central business districts that are being reinvented, post-pandemic. Many communities are saddled with empty commercial properties smack in the heart of town. Local governments have struggled to repurpose obsolete malls and their sprawling parking lots, as well as empty storefronts and unneeded office space. This page has pushed for relaxing the red tape of zoning and permitting requirements to fast-track development, but that can bring its own costs if corners are cut unwisely. The new Macy’s store in Randhurst Village in Mount Prospect on Nov. 15, 2024. The store is a scaled-down version of the company’s traditional stores. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) Using grants, loans and other incentives to rehab stores or undertake apartment and condo conversions can be prohibitively expensive. The same goes for attracting new business with tax abatements and cash grants, especially as pandemic relief funds dry up. In Chicago’s Loop, a much-needed revamp of LaSalle Street launched by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot recently got a welcome green light from the city’s Community Development Commission. Mayor Brandon Johnson to his credit has continued the effort his predecessor began. If the Chicago City Council goes along with the commission’s recommendation, $98 million in tax increment financing funds would be available to redevelop the landmark Field Building at 135 S. LaSalle. The LaSalle Street corridor is awash in empty office space, and the project aims to transform the building’s vacant floors into hundreds of apartments, and jump-start additional development in the area. We think it could be a good investment, but it’s obviously a very costly one. Few communities have $100 million to deal with a problem property, even if it’s a 44-story one with an 80%-plus vacancy rate. Like other Chicago suburbs that have their act together, Mount Prospect offers a range of economic development incentives and actively pursues new businesses. The village let us know that it provided no public incentives to the new Macy’s store or to DLC, the shopping center’s owner. But Mount Prospect clearly has done a good job setting the table for development through infrastructure investment, relatively efficient processes and buy-local cheerleading. That’s the best many communities can hope to do, as retailers continue to shrink, transforming the commercial property market. As for what it takes for even scaled-down brick-and-mortar stores such as Macy’s to earn customer loyalty, Dr. Robert O’Keefe, the brother who was shopping with Fine last week, has a suggestion: Make sure the staff is knowledgeable and friendly. “It’s the old-fashioned way to get people back,” he said. “Be nice.” Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].