Macy’s in downtown Seattle

10/24/19 Macy’s at Third & Pine

[By Tina Koyama in Seattle] Macy’s department store isn’t doing well. A few are closing in the Seattle area (along with many more nationwide), including the downtown store that used to be the Bon Marche’s flagship before Macy’s took over.

I’m not especially sad to see it go; I rarely shopped there in its Macy’s form. When it was still the Bon Marche during my youth, I went there a lot more often because it was my mom’s favorite store. After I was old enough to drive, I used to take her there so that we could park in the adjacent ramp and walk across the skybridge to shop without ever getting wet. After all my childhood years of waiting for buses in the rain, it was a sheer decadent luxury. So the skybridge (at far right) is a bit nostalgic.

Although I don’t care much about the retail store, I do love the grand building itself, which opened in 1929, and all of its ornate elevators and interior trim. Amazon offices have occupied some floors for a couple of years now. I hope the rest of the building gets used profitably in some way so that it can remain standing.