Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette to Retire, Give Reins to Bloomingdale’s Boss Tony Spring

He will be succeeded by

Tony Spring,

who runs the company’s Bloomingdale’s chain, where he has worked for 36 years, the retailer said Wednesday. 

The transition comes at a time of upheaval for retailers as high inflation pinches consumers and pushes up manufacturing costs. Department-store rivals such as

Nordstrom Inc.

JWN 0.13%

and

Kohl’s Corp.

KSS -0.55%

have struggled with falling sales and profits.

“Macy’s is in a really good position,” Mr. Gennette said in an interview. “We came through the pandemic financially stronger, more agile and efficient.”

Mr. Gennette said he’s learned many lessons in a career that spanned merchandising and operating positions and took him from California to New York. One is to know your customers really well. Macy’s divides its shoppers into 11 types and five life stages, he said. The other is to keep it simple. “The best strategies are the ones that can be executed well,” he said. 

The 61-year-old Mr. Gennette will soon leave a company he joined in 1983 as a management trainee. He is one of the few openly gay CEOs of a major corporation and drew on his own experience to help create a more diverse and inclusive culture at Macy’s. 

The company made a pledge in 2022 to spend $5 billion by 2025 tackling issues that range from creating a more equitable work environment to supporting minority-owned businesses to climate change. It spent $1.4 billion of that money last year. 

When Mr. Gennette took the helm, sales were falling and pundits were talking about the death of department stores, which were losing share to discount chains as well as fast-fashion and online retailers. It had also faced a different activist investor, who pushed Macy’s to sell its real estate, and its weakened position had made it a target of a takeover attempt by a rival.

The Stanford University graduate cleaned up what he called a “sea of sameness” in Macy’s merchandise by cutting back on basic clothing in too many similar colors and styles and adding trendier merchandise. 

He simplified pricing by reducing overlapping promotions, stripped out layers of management to speed decision making and closed hundreds of stores. He also modernized the supply chain and pushed executives to use more data and analytics in the planning of orders and pricing of goods.

“If you are relying on data, are obsessed with customers and looking at the most granular level of detail, then you will make better decisions,” Mr. Gennette said. 

That type of thinking served Macy’s well during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the flow of goods to stores was upended. Macy’s mostly sidestepped the inventory pileup that hurt other chains, like

Walmart Inc.,

Target Corp.

and Kohl’s Corp., and emerged from the pandemic a smaller, but more profitable company.

Department stores like Macy’s, whose roots trace back to the 19th century, are grappling with how they can woo shoppers away from newer rivals. 

Macy’s still has issues with cluttered store displays and suffers from “disjointed merchandising, and a relatively unattractive shopping experience,” wrote

Neil Saunders,

managing director of research firm

GlobalData

PLC, in March.

Macy’s ended its most recent fiscal year with sales of $24.44 billion, less than the $24.56 billion it had in 2019, before the pandemic began. But profit has more than doubled over that period to $1.18 billion. Its shares are down nearly 33% over the past 13 months through Tuesday’s close. 

Mr. Gennette began working with the board two years ago to plan his succession and looked at internal and external candidates. He said Mr. Spring, 58 years old, was selected for his record of building brands and developing executive teams. “He’s a rainmaker,” Mr. Gennette said. “He knows how to get profitable sales.”

Under Mr. Spring’s leadership, Bloomingdale’s pushed further into the luxury space by adding new brands such as Saint Laurent and Dior, helping the chain achieve record sales last year, Mr. Gennette said. Mr. Spring also has oversight of the Bluemercury beauty chain and helped recruit a new CEO after its founders left in 2019. 

Sales at stores open at least a year grew 1.2% at Bloomingdale’s and 7.2% at Bluemercury in the most recent quarter from a year earlier. Macy’s recorded a 3.3% decline over the same period. 

Mr. Gennette said Mr. Spring is known for making decisions carefully but implementing them quickly. His motto is “Hit the ground listening,” he said. “Tony knows all of the players, but he needs to get into the stores, warehouses and offices and understand the nuances.”

Mr. Spring will hold the titles of Macy’s president and CEO-elect and will join the company’s board. The company also said that finance chief

Adrian Mitchell,

49, will gain the additional title of chief operating officer, overseeing the company’s supply chain, technology and stores, in addition to finance and real estate.

Write to Suzanne Kapner at [email protected]

He will be succeeded by

Tony Spring,

who runs the company’s Bloomingdale’s chain, where he has worked for 36 years, the retailer said Wednesday. 

The transition comes at a time of upheaval for retailers as high inflation pinches consumers and pushes up manufacturing costs. Department-store rivals such as

Nordstrom Inc.

JWN 0.13%

and

Kohl’s Corp.

KSS -0.55%

have struggled with falling sales and profits.

“Macy’s is in a really good position,” Mr. Gennette said in an interview. “We came through the pandemic financially stronger, more agile and efficient.”

Mr. Gennette said he’s learned many lessons in a career that spanned merchandising and operating positions and took him from California to New York. One is to know your customers really well. Macy’s divides its shoppers into 11 types and five life stages, he said. The other is to keep it simple. “The best strategies are the ones that can be executed well,” he said. 

The 61-year-old Mr. Gennette will soon leave a company he joined in 1983 as a management trainee. He is one of the few openly gay CEOs of a major corporation and drew on his own experience to help create a more diverse and inclusive culture at Macy’s. 

The company made a pledge in 2022 to spend $5 billion by 2025 tackling issues that range from creating a more equitable work environment to supporting minority-owned businesses to climate change. It spent $1.4 billion of that money last year. 

When Mr. Gennette took the helm, sales were falling and pundits were talking about the death of department stores, which were losing share to discount chains as well as fast-fashion and online retailers. It had also faced a different activist investor, who pushed Macy’s to sell its real estate, and its weakened position had made it a target of a takeover attempt by a rival.

The Stanford University graduate cleaned up what he called a “sea of sameness” in Macy’s merchandise by cutting back on basic clothing in too many similar colors and styles and adding trendier merchandise. 

He simplified pricing by reducing overlapping promotions, stripped out layers of management to speed decision making and closed hundreds of stores. He also modernized the supply chain and pushed executives to use more data and analytics in the planning of orders and pricing of goods.

“If you are relying on data, are obsessed with customers and looking at the most granular level of detail, then you will make better decisions,” Mr. Gennette said. 

That type of thinking served Macy’s well during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the flow of goods to stores was upended. Macy’s mostly sidestepped the inventory pileup that hurt other chains, like

Walmart Inc.,

Target Corp.

and Kohl’s Corp., and emerged from the pandemic a smaller, but more profitable company.

Department stores like Macy’s, whose roots trace back to the 19th century, are grappling with how they can woo shoppers away from newer rivals. 

Macy’s still has issues with cluttered store displays and suffers from “disjointed merchandising, and a relatively unattractive shopping experience,” wrote

Neil Saunders,

managing director of research firm

GlobalData

PLC, in March.

Macy’s ended its most recent fiscal year with sales of $24.44 billion, less than the $24.56 billion it had in 2019, before the pandemic began. But profit has more than doubled over that period to $1.18 billion. Its shares are down nearly 33% over the past 13 months through Tuesday’s close. 

Mr. Gennette began working with the board two years ago to plan his succession and looked at internal and external candidates. He said Mr. Spring, 58 years old, was selected for his record of building brands and developing executive teams. “He’s a rainmaker,” Mr. Gennette said. “He knows how to get profitable sales.”

Under Mr. Spring’s leadership, Bloomingdale’s pushed further into the luxury space by adding new brands such as Saint Laurent and Dior, helping the chain achieve record sales last year, Mr. Gennette said. Mr. Spring also has oversight of the Bluemercury beauty chain and helped recruit a new CEO after its founders left in 2019. 

Sales at stores open at least a year grew 1.2% at Bloomingdale’s and 7.2% at Bluemercury in the most recent quarter from a year earlier. Macy’s recorded a 3.3% decline over the same period. 

Mr. Gennette said Mr. Spring is known for making decisions carefully but implementing them quickly. His motto is “Hit the ground listening,” he said. “Tony knows all of the players, but he needs to get into the stores, warehouses and offices and understand the nuances.”

Mr. Spring will hold the titles of Macy’s president and CEO-elect and will join the company’s board. The company also said that finance chief

Adrian Mitchell,

49, will gain the additional title of chief operating officer, overseeing the company’s supply chain, technology and stores, in addition to finance and real estate.

Write to Suzanne Kapner at [email protected]