• by Thom Forbes  @tforbes, May 1, 2020

Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette announced yesterday that it plans to reopen all 775 Macy's, Bloomingdale's and Bluemercury stores by the end of June, starting with 68 stores in Georgia, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas on Monday. Another 50 or so will reopen on May 11. All have been close since March 18 because of the COVID-19 pandemice.

“‘No touch’ consultations will be the rule at beauty counters. Ear piercing, bra fittings and alterations will be temporarily suspended. Fitting rooms will be limited. Employees will wear company-issued cloth masks. And trying on dress shirts? Forget about it,” write  Sapna Maheshwari and Michael Corkery for The New York Times.

“Macy’s expects its reopened stores to bring in only about 15% to 20% of their typical business at first and ‘slowly build’ from there…, Gennette said during a presentation. Whether shoppers would return, he acknowledged, was an open question,” they add.

“We’ll see how they respond, and based on that, we’ll be a lot smarter,” Gennette said. “So I’m going to know a lot more by Tuesday of next week.”

“Employees at Macy's must perform wellness checks before reporting to work, and wear masks at all times. Workers ‘processing multiple goods or interacting with customers at high traffic registers’ will wear gloves, says Macy’s. The chain says frequently visited locations will be cleaned more regularly,” Brett Molina reports for USA Today.

Costco yesterday became the largest U.S. retailer to require customers to wear masks, starting May 4.  

“Costco said the face coverings must be worn ‘at all times’ in the store and will not serve as a ‘substitute for social distancing,’” Jordan Valinsky writes  for CNN Business.

Whether that will be sufficient to draw back the throngs to the aisles remains to be seen.

“Department stores and other bricks-and-mortar retailers were already experiencing declines in foot traffic as more shopping shifted online in the years leading up to the health crisis. Some chains are using the pandemic to make profound changes to their business. The parent company of Harry & David, the gourmet-food seller known for its gift baskets, will permanently close most of the brand’s U.S. stores in coming months and focus on e-commerce instead,” The Wall Street Journal’s Suzanne Kapner points out in her coverage of Macy’s reopening.

“‘What this crisis has done is accelerate a secular trend toward digital,’ said Jide Zeitlin, the chief executive of Coach parent Tapestry Inc. Mr. Zeitlin said that while physical stores will always be important, he plans to hold them to a higher profitability threshold than before the crisis. As a result, Tapestry might decide to keep some stores closed for good,” Kapner adds.

“How is [Macy’s CEO] Gennette retaining optimism during the pandemic? After all, he’s furloughed much of his workforce, is taking no salary and making decisions about a very uncertain future for a retailer that generates the majority of sales from stores that have been closed six weeks,” CNBC’s Courtney Reagan asks.

“I miss my team tremendously,” he told her in a phone interview, but he sees them and speaks to them on video calls and Microsoft Teams.

“Technology has enabled incredible efficiency and a ‘speed in our metabolism’ that he wants to hold onto after the crisis abates, he said. Even with the furloughs, decisions are happening quickly and tasks in many cases are getting done quicker. Plus, ‘I get to see things I haven’t seen before, with my [team members’] lives’ Gennette said. 'I know their dogs’ names. We are more intimate with each other in that way, and it’s much better than expected.’

Meanwhile, J. Crew is “working to secure $400 million in financing to fund operations in bankruptcy” that could come as soon as this weekend, sources tell  CNBC.com’s Lauren Hirsch. “[The sources] cautioned that timing could still slip, and plans are not yet finalized,” she adds. J. Crew declined to comment.

“The New York-based retailer had already been struggling under a heavy debt load and sales challenges, as it suffered criticism that it fell out of touch with its once-loyal customers. In the past few years, the brand lost both its longtime design chief, Jenna Lyons, and famed retail executive Mickey Drexler. Those challenges have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic that has forced stores to shutter, throwing the retail industry into a state of disarray,” Hirsch writes.

But to end the week on an uptick and a bang, we note that Macy’s Gennette confirmed yesterday that Macy’s is still planning to hold its Thanksgiving Day parade on Nov. 26, as well as its annual Fourth of July fireworks display in New York City.