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By SAUL RUBIN

Staff Reporter

First they cried foul. Then they said good riddance.

Now, business and community leaders will be trying to find a replacement for a Macy’s store that quietly pulled out of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza earlier this month.

The swiftness of the overnight departure stunned many who are working to shepherd the area through an economic revitalization. “The way Macy’s did this was offensive. It’s the height of corporate arrogance,” said L.A. Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who represents the Crenshaw district.

He said the move was even more infuriating because the city had pledged $3 million in redevelopment money and grant funds to revitalize the store and the surrounding commercial area.

“It was an extraordinarily abrupt closing,” said Joseph F. Piaggi Jr., senior vice president for Center Trust, which owns the center. “They had continually stated to us that they were committed to the store. Our anticipation was that we were going to work something out.”

Piaggi said Center Trust had no notice of the closing until a Macy’s official called the company on Jan. 9 a Saturday and said the store would not open again. Signs then went up in store windows informing shoppers and workers.

While losing an anchor store can be devastating for a shopping center, Piaggi said he expects the mall to survive the departure. Revenues at the center were up 10 percent from last year, he said, registering $300 per square foot, which Piaggi said was satisfactory for any mall.

In addition, the success of the adjacent Magic Johnson Theatres and plans for a $100 million redevelopment of the nearby Santa Barbara Plaza have generated optimism among business and political leaders. “This is a Macy’s issue. It’s not a shopping center issue,” Piaggi said of the closure.

While Macy’s officials would not release financial information about the store’s performance, spokesman Louis Meunier said it was “substantially below the profit expectations for a store.”

He said a similar problem forced the company to close its Westwood location on the same day. But while announcing the two closures, Macy’s detailed plans to invest $100 million in new and renovated stores in Southern California over the next three years, including new locations at malls in Westminster and Lakewood.

Meunier insisted that the two closings were not abrupt and had been considered for some time by Macy’s executives.

Three years ago, community pressure convinced Macy’s West, a division of Federated Department Stores Inc., to convert the Crenshaw Broadway into a Macy’s when the retailer bought the Broadway chain. There had been a Broadway store at the site since 1947. Macy’s was one of three anchor tenants, along with Robinsons-May and Sears.

The mall itself opened 10 years ago, in part due to political pressure applied by then-Mayor Tom Bradley, who was responding to pleas from community members that he do something to boost the fortunes of the Crenshaw area.

Piaggi said the remaining anchor stores are doing well a point confirmed by Vicki Cessna, a spokeswoman for Sears, Roebuck & Co., who credits store employees with stocking merchandise that meet local demands.

While Macy’s West officials point out that there is a Macy’s in the nearby Fox Hills mall, Kenneth Lumbard, president of Magic Johnson Theatres, said the chain was missing the point.

“They don’t understand the community and they don’t understand the opportunity,” he said. “While I’m sorry to see them leave, I hope they figure out that the inner cities represent the highest upside of any investment opportunity.”

Lumbard said community members had long complained that Macy’s didn’t stock or maintain the store as well as its other locations. “If you provide the quality of service, the community will support you,” Lumbard said.

Macy’s West spokesman Meunier disagreed. “The customers didn’t vote that way,” he said. “We brought in desirable merchandise and just didn’t get a response.”

Piaggi said the first order of business will be to terminate the Macy’s lease and reacquire the property. Then the search begins for a new tenant though with so much consolidation in the retail industry, there are fewer players out there. Piaggi said the options include another full-line department store, such as a J.C. Penney or a Dillard’s, or even a major discounter such as Target. Just days after Macy’s closed, community, members and mall management began a series of meetings to discuss the options.

“There will be no vacant building at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Crenshaw. That just will not do,” said Ridley-Thomas.