Mall of America Bloomingdale's store to close in mid March

Macy's Inc. said Tuesday that it will close four Bloomingdale's stores, including the Mall of America location, beginning in early spring. The closings will take place over a period of ten weeks.

The retailer will also shutter Bloomingdale's stores in Atlanta, Oak Brook, IL, and North Bethesda, MD.

The Mall of America location will close in mid March. About 127 full time and part time workers will lose their jobs. The mall said it would add at least four fashion retailers to fill the space.

In a statement, CEO Terry Lundgren said stores slated to close "did not meet performance requirements."

"We continue to be committed to maintaing a healthy portfolio of stores that allow us to focus on growth from our best and most productive locations," Lundgren said. "This requires us to make some difficult decisions to close stores that no longer meet our performance requirements, as well as to open stores where we opportunities."

The company also said it would close five Macy's stores, though none in Minnesota.

Macy's plans to open five new Macy's stores, one new Bloomingdale's store, and one smaller replacement Bloomingdale's store.

The MOA store is Minnesota's only Bloomingdale's location. The closing comes as a bit of a surprise given the high traffic of the mall and strength of luxury shoppers last year.