The landmark Macy's in downtown Miami — the biggest retail presence on Flagler Street — is likely to close in early April as part of a national downsizing of the department store chain, the company announced Thursday.

This is one of 11 Macy's stores set to close early this year, but only four had been previously announced by Macy's Inc. The closings are another indication of the changing face of brick-and-mortar retail, especially large department stores, as e-commerce sets sales records.

“That kind of retail is going away,” said real estate investment banker Jason Shapiro, managing director of Aztec Group Inc. in Miami. “The department store model won't go away completely, but you no longer will need hundreds of thousands of square feet but maybe tens of thousands.”

The shutdown also might be speaking to an appetite by younger shoppers for smaller stores rather than big-box locations, added Alyce Robertson, executive director of the Miami Downtown Development Authority. In downtown, 25- to 44-year-olds are more than half of the resident population.

A clearance sale might begin as soon as Monday and could run until the downtown Miami store closes for good, according to Macy's.

The downtown building at 22 E. Flagler St. has been home to a department store for more than 100 years. Burdines opened its flagship store there in 1917.

Burdines became part of Federated Department Stores Inc., now Macy's, in 1956. The Burdines family name went away in 2005.

“You never really want to see the loss of an anchor retailer like Macy's on your street,” Robertson said. But “it opens up an opportunity for that property.”

Macy's departure will be a factor in downtown's reinvention. For years, downtown retail has been dominated by small luggage, electronics and fabric stores.

Some smaller, street-level retailers, restaurants and bars, such as the Supply & Advise men's clothing store and Niu Kitchen have moved in, drawing foot traffic even at night, Shapiro said.

“It's a positive thing for downtown because it can help reinvent the space and push the neighborhood forward,” Shapiro said.

But two factors have left many downtown doorways vacant: the city's pedestrian-oriented Flagler streetscape project is slowly reconstructing blocks one at a time, and four dozen real estate purchases have been made by developer Moishe Mana, whose attention has largely been focused on mixed-use development in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood.

“You have a historic building in the center of the Central Business District in Miami — it's a tremendous opportunity to create something else,” Shapiro said.

Macy's occupies most of the 467,158-square-foot building straddling the east and west sides of South Miami Avenue. The department store previously vacated the western space and is now only on the east side, Robertson said.

The building is owned by Aetna Realty Group LLC, which bought part of the building about five years ago for $15.5 million and the rest shortly after for $10 million, according to the Miami-Dade County property appraiser's office. Aetna Realty, a subsidiary of U.S. Realty, is a New York-based real estate investment firm.

The other 10 Macy's stores to close in the coming months are at Laguna Hills Mall in Laguna Hills, California; Westside Pavilion in Los Angeles; Novato (Furniture) in Novato, California; Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco; The Oaks Mall in Gainesville; Magic Valley Mall in Twin Falls, Idaho; Honey Creek Mall in Terre Haute, Indiana; Birchwood Mall in Fort Gratiot Township, Michigan; Fountain Place in Cincinnati; and Burlington Town Center in Burlington, Vermont, the company said.

Macy's will save about $300 million from the closings and staffing changes at other locations, the company said. The closures are part of a Macy's downsizing announced in August 2016 when the company said it would close about 100 locations.

Macy's at CityPlace in West Palm Beach was among last year's shutdowns.

With Thursday's announcement, Macy's, which also owns Bloomingdale's, would have completed 81 of the 100 closures. The remaining 19 stores will close as their leases expire or sales are finished.