A MASSIVE three-story department store has announced its closing after 24 years.
Dillard's announced that it would close its Norfolk, Virginia, location just weeks after saying the store was about to undergo a massive change.
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The Norfolk location in MacArthur Center opened in 1999 with gigantic fanfare - the store's finale was similarly overt.
The 25,000-square-foot store features a salon and spa and has a personal tailor.
Norfolk’s Economic Development Authority voted to purchase the giant store for no more than $4million.
An exact sale price has not been announced.
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The purchase was announced months after the city bought most of the mall from Wells Fargo in June, according to Virginia Business.
The mall already lost a Nordstrom location in 2019.
In response to the new sale, Dillard's decided to shutter the store.
"STORE CLOSING: Thanks for the Memories," signs outside the store read.
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The signs then point out three other Virginia-based Dillard's locations customers can turn to in Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, and Newport News.
Dillard's employees who are not authorized to speak to the media told local media that they were previously notified by management about the decision to close, according to WAVY.
A representative for Dillard's did not immediately respond to The U.S. Sun's request for comment.
BIG CHANGES WERE UNDERWAY
Dillard's announced at the end of last month that the location was set to become a clearance-only site, according to another report by WAVY.
According to a Dillard's spokesperson, the store change was supposed to bring heavily marked-down items to customers.
"Under this format, the store will receive clearance merchandise from full-line Dillard’s locations in the region and offer it to our customers at deeply discounted prices," Dillard's corporate spokesperson, Julie Guymon, told the local station on June 29.
Guymon said several factors went into the brand's decision to change the store format - but didn't elaborate, according to the paper.
The mall's manager, Jim Wofford, said he had seen signs advertising the clearance sales around the store.
Less than three weeks later, the store replaced the clearance signs with store closing signs.
WHAT IS DILLARD'S?
Dillard's is an Arkansas-based chain department store with around 280 locations in the US.
The brand sells furniture, clothing, and accessories.
According to its latest quarterly report, the company had a net income of $201.5million.
"We had a good quarter against a tough comparison," the company's CEO, William T. Dillard II said in the release.
Dillard said that the retail industry noticed a shift in the later part of the quarter, noting "customer activity declined in the back half of the quarter."
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