The Macy’s store on Market Street in Center City will close, Philadelphia City Councilman Mark Squilla told CBS News Philadelphia on Thursday.
The city will hold a press conference to discuss an “important business announcement” at 4:30 p.m.
Macy’s announced a plan in December to Eliminate 150 underperforming stores by 2026.
The Market Street store, one of two Macy’s in Philadelphia, is housed in the famous Wanamaker Building near City Hall.
Gilbert Carrasquillo/Getty Images
The building spans an entire city block and contains hundreds of thousands of square feet of office space. It is also home to the chic wedding venue Crystal Tea Room.
The building manager was not immediately available for comment on Thursday.
The twelve-story building was built between 1902 and 1910 on the site of the Wanamaker Grand Depot. It has long been home to the Wanamaker Organ, which retailer John Wanamaker purchased for the store in 1909.
According to the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ, it took thirteen boxcars to transport all the pieces from St. Louis and two years to install them in the Philadelphia home. With several additions since then, today the organ has more than 28,000 pipes.
Gilbert Carrasquillo/Getty Images
The organ has been featured in the building’s long-running Christmas music and light show, narrated by Julie Andrews and featuring Christmas characters from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to Frosty the Snowman.
Upstairs, the store housed the Dickens Village, an animatronic display with walkthrough based on “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. The display was taken from Strawbridge’s down the road and installed in 2006.
