For years, people have been predicting the death of malls, department stores, and more specifically, Macy’s. But the retailer seems to be turning things around.In its earnings call Wednesday morning, the company, which also owns Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury, said sales have grown for a fourth straight quarter. Is Macy’s making a comeback?The company has learned something over the last handful of years, said Steve Hochman, a managing director at the consulting firm Nagarro: that bigger isn’t always better. “There’s this kind of this notion that you sometimes hear called ‘edit to amplify’ — the counterintuitive notion is that to grow sometimes you actually have to prune back,” he said.Macy’s is pruning back. It’s in the process of closing 150 stores, and Hochman says it’s refocusing on what sells best.“Prom dresses are in, furniture is out,” he said.Also in? High-end retail. Bloomingdale’s leads the company’s portfolio, with same-store sales up more than 10% last quarter. Sales at mid-tier Macy’s stores were up less than 2%.Simeon Siegel, a senior managing director at Guggenheim Partners, said those numbers do show promise. “Macy’s growth is working in the right direction and is very encouraging relative to its own prior history,” he said.But it’s not necessarily encouraging relative to the performance of its competition. The retail sector in general had a strong first quarter. If consumers pull back on spending, Siegel said he isn’t sure they’ll keep choosing Macy’s.“And so the question will become, looking out over the next six months, who still looks like they’re growing versus who gives it back,” he said.Something Macy’s does have on its side is that it’s often an anchor store in the big corner space at shopping centers, and mall traffic is up.“Now, I’m always going to be a fan of the department store,” said Michael Lisicky, a writer and retail historian.Lisicky has written ten books on department stores, and said there’s a trend of shopping centers becoming exciting again, with new restaurants, pickleball courts, and grocery stores coming in.“I think there’s some hope,” he said. “But you can’t just throw in a couple Starbucks these days and expect that to be a destination.”Malls have to offer an experience that’s enticing enough to get people past the hurdle of the parking lot and eat, shop, and play for a while.