One of the country's oldest retailers is pulling out of San Francisco to expand its tech operations in Atlanta and New York.
Macy's Inc. announced on Tuesday Atlanta will be the home of its primary tech hub, adding hundreds of high-paying jobs to the city. The department store chain will expand its systems and technology campus in Johns Creek, which employs more than 1,000 engineers, programmers and other online support staff, in addition to opening a new tech office in Atlanta, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reports.
The San Francisco Business Times reports the department store will close its tech office in San Francisco, which employed 831, to move digital operations to Atlanta or New York.
The announcement means higher paying tech jobs for Atlanta; the average salary of a Macy's software engineer is $102,000, the Chronicle reports.
The news comes on the tail of announcements the company is relocating its headquarters from Cincinnati to New York and closing 125 stores over the next three years.
Macy's is one of just several companies --- tech and non-tech --- to decide to leave the Bay Area. In 2019, Walker & Co., a beauty company for people of color, announced its move from San Francisco to Atlanta following its acquisition by Procter & Gamble. Some of the main complaints from companies currently based in or leaving San Francisco are cost of living, taxes, lack of diversity and overcrowding.
The trend is not exclusive to San Francisco. Many companies have begun a Western flight from California, including the infamous Silicon Valley, to pursue lower costs of living, cheaper talent and unsaturated markets. Atlanta Inno has reported several instances of companies moving from California to Atlanta and the expansion of major tech corporations' offices in Atlanta, such as Google and Microsoft.
