MIAMI – A beloved store was dark on a chilly Thursday night. It was a sad foreshadowing of the inevitable. Once the crown jewel of South Florida's department stores in the heart of downtown Miami, and soon the landmark Macy's on Flagler street, will be closing it's doors for good.
After the announcement, Cari Calvo walked into the store to go shopping. Online shopping is changing the retail industry, but not the love that Calvo has for the location.
"This is my Burdines," Calvo said. "Back to the '80s, I remember coming to this store."
Local 10 News' Louis Aguirre remembers when his mom used to take him shopping there when he was a kid in the 70s. It was the home of Burdines, a home grown Miami department store that first opened as a trading post in 1898 before a reopening as a department store in 1912.
In 1956, Burdines joined federated department stores and eventually became Burdines Macy's in 2004, and then just Macy's a year later.
Miami Downtown Development Authority executive director Alyce Robertson said downtown Miami is changing.
"It's sad because it's the end of an era," Robertson said. "We have almost 90,000 people. Most of them are young, between the ages of 25 and 44, and so they are kind of looking for different kinds of experiences than say what you'd be traditionally looking for."
Development along Flagler Street is moving full steam ahead. There are more cafes and wider sidewalks. The Miami DDA is working on making the area more pedestrian friendly and hip.
"Downtown has changed a lot over the last 10 years," Robertson said.