More photos: The original Liberty House
Phillip Wee was in a reflective mood Thursday afternoon while walking out of Macy’s on Fort Street after getting what he thinks could be his last haircut at the store.
"I’m kind of sad," said Wee, 49, who works downtown as a graphic designer. "This is like the last haircut I’m going to have here for the last 20-something years. And it’s the last time in this building, so it’s kind of bittersweet for me."
Macy’s announced Thursday morning that it plans to shutter the 80,000-square-foot 1032 Fort Street Mall store sometime in early spring.
Employees could be heard later that day conversing with customers about the closing and planning where to hang "Blowout Sale" signs.
Marquita Marshman said her favorite memory of the store that first opened in 1850 as Hackfeld’s Dry Goods is how beautiful its decorations look during the holidays.
"I’m very sad about it," Marshman, 51, said of the closing. "I shop here a lot. … I just like it because the people are friendly, and I’ve been coming here for years."
Wee said his hairdresser and other store employees were anticipating a closure announcement.
"He said, ‘Oh yeah, they had a feeling,’" Wee recalled. "He said they’ve seen the signs, and they just confirmed it today."
For Wee and many others who work downtown, Macy’s has served as a favorite lunchtime getaway to shop for good sales or grab a bite to eat at the Gazebo restaurant, which was already closed Thursday.
"I really like this location," said Susan Zane-Maeshiro, 52. "The working ladies like that, and they have sales so we just come over here."
Zane-Maeshiro said she and her co-workers enjoyed shopping at Macy’s together as a big group, and they joked Thursday morning that the store closing will save them money.
Wee said he thinks the lack of tourist traffic downtown could have contributed to the store’s decision to close.
"There’s so many loyal people that come here — they go (to) work and they go shopping here," he said. "I think it’s just because there’s not enough visitor traffic, you know. You have your local residents, you have your people that work downtown, and they come here. But it’s not as much as like, say, Ala Moana where you have lots of people just flowing right through all the time."
Lillian Wong, 75, said Macy’s is the only store in the downtown area with a public restroom, and its closing will inconvenience people. She said she feels for the workers because she too shopped at the store when she worked downtown for many years.
"I’m really sad," she said. "I just love Macy’s; I loved Liberty House, too."
Wong said she hopes something "comparable to Macy’s" moves into the space: "a place where the workers can go and shop during their lunch hours."
Wee said his hairdresser thinks the building might be razed, but he suspects it could be transformed into a multi-use complex.
"They’ve been making measurements like that blue stuff there," he said, motioning to the pavement where occasional blue lines had been spray-painted a short distance from the structure. "What they would probably want is more retail, restaurants and residential (space). … They’d probably bill this as maybe some office space or maybe some residential, I’d imagine."
