One of the challenges is location. A lot of stores have been open for a long time and now the neighborhoods around them have deteriorated - like North Dekalb Mall (east Atlanta).
They owned a chain in Atlanta/Athens for years (acquired in the 1920s), locally managed, and it did well. Then they decided to slap the yankee label on it (late 1980s) and call the shots from New York. They fairly quickly ran it into the ground. They bought a local Atlanta chain, and after the original Macy’s shut down (a couple were re-branded as Bloomingdales, which didn’t work very well, either) (early 2000s), they slapped their signs on the formerly well respected newly acquired stores. Looks like they’re slowly shutting those down, as well.