In 2014, Macy's stores blamed cold weather for poor sales.
2/25/2014: Sales and earnings full year 2013, ended Feb. 1, 2014
In part, poor January sales were due to the unusually harsh winter weather across much of the country. At one time or another during January, 244 Macy's and Bloomingdale's stores were closed because of weather, and the business remained sluggish until Valentine's Day,” he said. “Once warm spring weather arrives and our full assortment of fresh spring merchandise is in place, we believe customers will return to a more normalized pattern of shopping.Fast forward to 2016. Sales not so good. Weather too warm!
1/6/2016: Macy’s, Inc. Reports Nov/Dec Sales and Updates 2015 Guidance
The holiday selling season was challenging, as experienced throughout 2015 by much of the retailing industry. In the November/December period, we were particularly disadvantaged by the historically warm weather in northern climate zones where both Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s are especially well-represented. About 80 percent of our company’s year-over-year declines in comparable sales can be attributed to shortfalls in cold-weather goods such as coats, sweaters, boots, hats, gloves and scarves.Weather is hard. Or maybe this is what happens when a business closes stores, buys back stock, and runs a bunch of commercials about how great its products and service are while its product and service levels decline.
