This article is about the department store chain, R. H. Macy & Co. For Macy's parent company (formerly Federated Department Stores, Inc.), see
Macy's, Inc..
Macy's Department Stores, Inc.
 |
| Type |
Subsidiary |
| Industry |
Retailing |
| Founded |
New York City, 1858 |
| Headquarters |
New York City, United States
Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Number of locations |
805[1] |
| Products |
Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, cosmetics, housewares |
| Revenue |
 $24.892 billion (FY2009) |
| Operating income |
US$ 1.863 billion(FY2007) |
| Net income |
US$ 893 million (FY2007) |
| Employees |
167,000 (2009) |
| Parent |
Macy's, Inc. |
| Website |
Macys.com |
Macy's, stylized as ★macy★s, is a U.S. chain of mid- to high-range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States as of January 30, 2010 (2010 -01-30)[update].[2] It also has eSpot ZoomShops kiosks in over 300 store locations selling consumer electronics.
Famed equally for its niche in popular culture and the diversity of its merchandise, the chain competes with Belk, Bon-Ton, Dillard's, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue.
It has produced the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City since 1924, and sponsored the City's annual Fourth of July fireworks display since 1976.
Macy's flagship was, and still being advertised as, the largest in the world. However, it has been superseded by Shinsegae's store in Centum City, located in Busan, South Korea. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, its area of 509,810 square metres (5,487,500 sq ft) is almost twice that of Macy's.[3]
Macy's was founded by Rowland Hussey Macy, who between 1843 and 1855 opened four retail dry goods stores, including the original Macy's store in downtown Haverhill, Massachusetts, established in 1851 to serve the mill industry employees of the area. They all failed, but he learned from his mistakes. Macy moved to New York City in 1858 and established a new store named "R.H Macy Dry Goods" on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, which was far north of where other dry goods stores were at the time.[4] On the company's first day of business on October 28, 1858 sales totaled US$11.08, equal to $297.09 today. From the very beginning, Macy's logo has included a star in one form or another, which comes from a tattoo that Macy got as a teenager when he worked on a Nantucket whaling ship, the Emily Morgan.[5][6]
As the business grew, Macy's expanded into neighboring buildings, opening more and more departments, and used publicity devices such as a store Santa Claus, themed exhibits, and illuminated window displays to draw in customers.[7] It also offered a money back guarantee, although it only accepted cash into the 1950s. The store also produced its own made-to-measure clothing for both men and women, assembled in an on-site factory.[4] The store later moved to 18th Street and Broadway, on the "Ladies' Mile", the elite shopping district of the time, where it remained for nearly forty years.
In 1875, Macy took on two partners, Robert M. Valentine (1850–1879), a nephew; and Abiel T. La Forge (1842–1878) of Wisconsin, who was the husband of a cousin.[8][9] Macy died just two years later in 1877 from Bright's disease[10] The following year La Forge died, and Valentine died in 1879.[8][9] Ownership of the company was passed down through the Macy family until 1895, when the company, now called "R. H. Macy & Co.", was acquired by Isidor Straus and his brother Nathan Straus, who had previously held a license to sell china and other goods in the Macy's store.
In 1902, the flagship store moved uptown to Herald Square at 34th Street and Broadway, so far north of the other main dry goods emporia that it had to offer a steam wagonette to transport customers from 14th Street to 34th Street.[4] Although the Herald Square store initially consisted of just one building, it expanded through new construction, eventually occupying almost the entire block bounded by Seventh Avenue on the west, Broadway on the east, 34th Street on the south and 35th Street on the north, with the exception of a small pre-existing building on the corner of 35th Street and Seventh Avenue and another on the corner of 34th Street and Broadway. This latter 5-story building was purchased by Robert H. Smith in 1900 for $375,000 – an incredible sum at the time – with the idea of getting in the way of Macy's becoming the largest store in the world: it is largely supposed that Smith, who was a neighbor of the Macy's store on 14th Street, was acting on behalf of Siegel-Cooper, which had built what they thought was the world's largest store on Sixth Avenue in 1896. Macy's ignored the tactic, and simply built around the building, which now carries Macy's "shopping bag" sign by lease arrangement.[11]
Macy's in Herald Square today.
The original Broadway store, designed by architects De Lemos & Cordes was built in 1901–02 by the Fuller Company. It has a Palladian facade, but has been updated in many details. Other additions to the west were added in 1924 and 1928, and the Seventh Avenue building in 1931, all designed by architect Robert D. Kohn, the newer buildings becoming increasingly Art Deco in style.[11][12]
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark in 1978.[13][14] The store has several wooden escalators still in operation.
The problem of pre-existing buildings also presented itself when Macy's built a store on Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst, Queens, New York. This resulted in an architecturally unique round department store on 90 percent of the lot, with a small privately owned house on the corner. Macy's no longer fully occupies this building, which now contains the Queens Place Mall, with Macy's Furniture Gallery as a tenant; instead it moved its full outlet to the nearby Queens Center.
Acquisitions were also made outside of the New York City region. Department stores in Toledo (Lasalle & Koch 1924), Atlanta (Davison-Paxon-Stokes 1929), Newark (L. Bamberger & Co.) 1929, San Francisco (O'Connor Moffat & Company 1945), and Kansas City (John Taylor Dry Goods Co. 1947) were purchased during this time. O'Connor Moffat was renamed Macy's San Francisco in 1947, later becoming Macy's California, and John Taylor was renamed Macy's Missouri-Kansas in 1949. Stores in Toledo retained the Lasalle's name until 1981, joining the Missouri-Kansas stores to become Macy's Midwest. The Toledo stores were sold to Elder-Beermen in 1986.[2]
Macy's New York began opening stores outside of its historic New York City–Long Island trade area in 1983 with a location at Aventura Mall in Aventura, Florida (a suburb of Miami), followed by several locations in Plantation, Florida (now relocated from the Fashion Mall to the Broward Mall since the Burdine's acquisition), Houston, New Orleans, and Dallas. Davison's in Atlanta was renamed Macy's Atlanta in early 1985 with the consolidation of an early incarnation of Macy's Midwest (former Taylor and LaSalle's stores in Kansas City and Toledo, respectively), but late in 1985, Macy's turned around and sold the former Midwest locations. Bamberger's, which had aggressively expanded throughout New Jersey, into the Greater Philadelphia Metropolitan area in the 1960s and 1970s as well as into Nanuet, New York(southern Rockland County), and into the Baltimore Metropolitan area in the early 1980s, was renamed Macy's New Jersey in 1986.
The former Macy's West flagship store in San Francisco.
In 1986 Edward Finkelstein, Chairman & CEO of R. H. Macy & Co., Inc., led a leveraged buy-out of the company and subsequently engaged in a takeover battle for Federated Department Stores, Inc., in 1988 that he lost to Canada's Campeau Corporation. As part of its settlement with Campeau, Macy's purchased Federated's California-based, fashion-oriented Bullock's and its high-end Bullocks Wilshire and I. Magnin divisions. It followed with a reorganization of its divisions into Macy's Northeast (former Macy's New York and Macy's New Jersey), Macy's South/Bullock's (Macy's Atlanta stores plus Macy's New York's operations in Texas, Florida and Louisiana), and Macy's California, the latter including a semi-autonomous I. Magnin/Bullocks Wilshire organization. The Bullocks Wilshire stores were renamed I. Magnin in 1989.
Subsequently, R. H. Macy & Co., Inc., filed for bankruptcy on January 27, 1992, after which point its banks brought in a new management team, which shut several underperforming stores, jettisoned two-thirds of the luxury I. Magnin chain, and reduced Macy's to two divisions; Macy's East and Macy's West.
Macy's East, New York, New York is a division of Macy's, Inc.. It is the operating successor to the original R.H. Macy & Co., Inc. and operates the Macy's department stores in the northeast U.S. and Puerto Rico. Over the years it has been known as Macy's New York and Macy's Northeast. On February 1, 2006, Macy's East assumed operating control over the Filene's, Strawbridge's, many of the Kaufmann's stores in upstate New York and the Hecht's stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, D.C. and northern Virginia. These locations assumed the Macy's moniker officially on September 9, 2006. In 2008 Macy's East merged with Macy's North.
At the start of 1994, Federated began pursuing a merger with Macy's. After a long and difficult courtship, R. H. Macy & Co. finally merged with Federated Department Stores on December 19, 1994. Following the merger the reorganized Macy’s moved its headquarters to Cincinnati, Ohio under the name Federated Department Stores. Federated promptly shut down the remainder of the I. Magnin chain, converting several to Macy's or Bullock's and selling four in Carmel, Beverly Hills, San Diego and Phoenix to Saks Fifth Avenue. Federated also merged its Abraham & Straus/Jordan Marsh division with the new "Macy's East" organization based in New York, renaming the Abraham & Straus stores in metropolitan New York with the Macy's nameplate in 1995, and then erasing the Jordan Marsh moniker in New England in early 1996.
Federated followed that by leading a bid in mid-1995 to acquire the bankrupt Woodward & Lothrop/John Wanamaker organization in the mid-Atlantic region, a bid it lost to rival group led by long-time rival and future acquisition target The May Department Stores Company. Instead Federated soon agreed to purchase Broadway Stores, Inc. (owner of The Broadway, Emporium and Weinstock's stores in California, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico), from its majority shareholder, Sam Zell, thereby gaining a leading position in Southern California and a dominant one in the Northern California marketplace. In early 1996 Federated dissolved Broadway Stores, incorporating the majority of its locations into Macy's West, rebadging them as Macy's and using the opportunity to retire the Bullock's name. Several of the redundant Broadway locations were used to establish Bloomingdale's on the West Coast, while many other were sold to Sears.
In 2001 Federated dissolved its Stern's division in the New York metropolitan area, with the bulk of the stores being absorbed into Macy's East. Additionally, in July 2001 it acquired the Liberty House chain with department and specialty stores in Hawaii and Guam, consolidating it with Macy's West.
In early 2003 Federated closed the majority of its historic Davison's franchise in Atlanta (operating as Macy's since 1985), rebranding its other Atlanta division Rich's with the unwieldy name, Rich's–Macy's. The downtown location—formerly the Davison's flagship store at 180 Peachtree Street – was shuttered at this time as well. The original Macy's Lenox Square and Perimeter Mall locations were extensively remodeled and opened in October 2003 as the first Bloomingdale's stores in Atlanta. The company rapidly followed suit in May 2003 with similar rebranding announcements for its other nameplates, Burdines in Florida, Goldsmith's in Memphis, Lazarus in the lower Midwest, and The Bon Marché in the Pacific Northwest.
On March 6, 2005, the Bon-Macy's, Burdines-Macy's, Goldsmith's-Macy's, Lazarus-Macy's, and Rich's-Macy's stores were renamed as simply "Macy's", the first two as the new Macy's West and Macy's Florida divisions respectively and the later three as part of the Macy's Central division. As of July 2005, Macy's had 424 stores throughout the U.S.[15]
On February 28, 2005, Federated agreed to terms of a deal to acquire The May Department Stores Company for $11 billion in stock, creating the nation's second largest department store chain with $30 billion in annual sales and more than 1,000 stores.
On July 28, 2005, Federated announced, based on the success of converting its own regional brands to the Macy's name, its plans to similarly convert 330 regional department stores owned by the May Company (as May Department Stores was generally referred to) to the Macy's nameplate. This included May's Marshall Field's (purchased by the May Company from Target just 8 months prior to Federated's purchase of the May Company), Kaufmann's, Famous-Barr, Filene's, Foley's, Hecht's, The Jones Store, L. S. Ayres, Meier & Frank, Robinsons-May, and Strawbridge & Clothier chains, pending approval of the merger by federal regulators.
The conversion of the May brands was met with negative reaction in many of the regions surrounding those department stores because they were widely considered to be beloved local institutions. The strongest reactions occurred with the loss of Filene's, Marshall Field's, and Kaufmann's, which were all well known for their flagship downtown stores and local traditions. For example, Kaufmann's operated the Kaufmann's Celebrate the Season Parade which was traditionally broadcast live throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on television. Many customers publicly vowed to never again shop at the May stores that were converted and to permanently switch their loyalty to other major department store chains beyond Federated's control. Prominent film critic Roger Ebert voiced the grief of many Chicagoans at the loss of Field's when he wrote in his column on September 21, 2005:
I thought the day would never come. I am looking at my Field's charge card, which I have cut up into tiny pieces. They look like little tears the color of money.[16]
Where existing Federated stores were in close proximity to former May Company stores, some redundant stores were closed or sold off to other retailers. In a number of malls where a May Company store and a Macy's store had traditionally coexisted in the same mall, Federated occasionally instituted a pattern which Macy's West had successfully pioneered in the 1990s with earlier acquisitions (specifically, Broadway Stores and Liberty House's former U.S. mainland stores). This involved converting one store to a Macy's Men and Home store, which primarily carried men's apparel, luggage, and housewares, and the other to a Macy's Women store which primarily carried women's apparel, children's apparel, and cosmetics. Having two stores configured like this allows Macy's to offer broader inventories of all products without having to incur the expense of building a single flagship-size store. At some malls, like Fashion Show Mall, the dual-store system proved to be unsuccessful, so Macy's closed one of the stores and converted the other back to a general Macy's store.
On January 12, 2006, Federated announced its plans to divest May Company's Lord & Taylor division by the end of 2006 after concluding that chain did not fit with their strategic focus for building the Macy's and Bloomingdale's national brands. On June 22, 2006, Macy's announced that NDRC Equity Partners, LLC would purchase Lord & Taylor for US$1.2 billion,[17] and completed the sale in October 2006.
On February 21, 2006, Macy's appointed a new chief marketing officer, Anne MacDonald, to oversee the transformation of Macy's into a "national department store". By September 9, 2006, and after renaming the former May Company locations, Macy's operated approximately 850 stores in the United States. To promote its largest and most recent expansion, Macy's used a version of the Martha and the Vandellas hit song, "Dancing in the Street", in its advertising. Also, the company took props from its annual Thanksgiving Day parade to various re-labeled stores throughout the nation, in what the company marketed as its "Parade on Parade."
Macy's significantly increased its use of television advertising and product placement in 2006 and 2007, using branding spots that featured the new Macy's star logo. Macy's television commercials are produced primarily by New York Production Services, a New York based commercial and independent film production company. During the February 11, 2007, episode of the popular ABC television series Desperate Housewives, a Macy's (under the fictional name McMay's) location in the fictional city of Fairview was featured, a rare instance of product placement promoting a department store chain in a scripted series. Nearly two years earlier, one of the first national commercials for Macy's had aired during Desperate Housewives, shortly after the conversion of Rich's, Lazarus, Goldsmith's, The Bon Marché and Burdines.
On February 27, 2007, Federated Department Stores announced plans to change its corporate name from Federated Department Stores, Inc., to Macy's Group, Inc.[18] By March 28, the company further announced plans to convert its stock ticker symbol from "FD" to "M", and revised its earlier proposed name change, instead opting to change to Macy's, Inc.[19] The change in corporate names was approved by shareholders on May 18, 2007, and took effect on June 1, 2007. The company will continue to operate stores under both the Macy's and Bloomingdale's nameplates.
In 2008, Macy's celebrated its 150th birthday. The store launched a commercial including old Macy's commercials, and actors and actresses mentioning Macy's on shows. It also featured clips of past Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades. The commercial aired around when the annual Primetime Emmy Awards aired live on ABC on September 2008. The commercial has aired on different channels also throughout the whole September, October, and November months[citation needed].
In March 2009, Macy's opened a one-level, 120,000-square-foot (11,000 m2) concept store in Gilbert, Arizona, a Phoenix suburb, that was designed to better fit open air lifestyle malls.[20] Additional stores with the new format have opened in Fairview, Texas; Lee’s Summit, Missouri; and Nampa, Idaho. The stores are designed to be compact and meet current demands for more convenient shopping similar to Kohl’s and newer J. C. Penney stores.[21] Lifestyle stores feature Starbucks Coffee Cafés with wireless web and fitting rooms designed to feel like lounges with sofas and Plasma TVs. Ceilings in the center areas are higher to be reminiscent of older department stores. The format was the culmination of 18 months of research to create stores for the "My Macy's" initiative that allows stores to be merchandised differently in markets across the country to meet local demands.[22][23]
In October 2006, Federated Department Stores entered into an agreement with Zoom Systems to test more than 100 stores within retail giant Macy’s. Terry Lundgren, CEO of Federated, raved about the ability to provide consumers with a convenient means to purchase iPods and other consumer electronics. “This is exciting because it brings most-wanted merchandise into stores in a unique new way.... How cool is that?”. Today Macy’s has turned over their entire Electronics section, in every store, to over 400 eSpot ZoomShops.
Prior to the merger of Federated and May, Macy's had been organized into five divisions. Incorporation of properties from six former regional May Company divisions began in February 2006, when existing Macy's stores and properties yet to be converted were then organized into seven divisions with store locations in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and Guam.[15] As of January 2011, the only states without a Macy's store were Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Mississippi and Nebraska.
On February 6, 2008, Macy's Inc. announced consolidation of its Macy's store locations into four primary geographic divisions. From that date, three of the divisions each had approximately 250 locations each as a result of the reorganization, while its Florida-based division remained unaffected, as did its Bloomingdale's division.[24]
- Macy's East, was headquartered in New York City, with locations ranging from the eastern to north-central United States. Prior to the consolidation of May Company properties into the division in February 2006, the division contained 216 stores/29,100 employees in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, portions of Virginia, and the city of Washington, D.C.. In addition to Macy's, this division formerly operated Filene's stores in New England, the majority of Kaufmann's stores in upstate New York, and Strawbridge's and Hecht's stores in the mid-Atlantic region. After announced divestitures/store closures were completed by late 2006, this division contained 185 locations until consolidation with Macy's North.
- Macy's North, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota from February 2006 until February 2008, was consolidated into Macy's East. Prior to its consolidation, the division included 65 stores in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Formerly, most locations had operated as Marshall Field's, which in turn included many former Dayton's and Hudson's locations. Additionally, the former L. S. Ayres location in Merrillville, Indiana, and Macy's at Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, were included in the Macy's North division. The division's successor, in effect, was a corporate region within Macy's East, with regional offices moved from Minneapolis to Chicago.
- Macy's Central, which was headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, was the second incarnation of the division name within what is currently Macy's Inc., with stores throughout the midwestern and southeastern United States. The current Macy's Central consolidates the following locations:
- Macy's South, which was also headquartered in Atlanta, operated from February 2006 until February 2008. The Federated/Macy's Inc. division itself was a consolidation of May Company properties with the first incarnation of Macy's Central – a renaming of Federated's RLG division, which had included Rich's, Lazarus, and Goldsmith's. As of March 2007, the division contained 136 stores/22,500 employees in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas & Virginia. Macy's South as operated by Federated/Macy's Inc. was created by consolidating former Rich's and Goldsmith's locations with several stores from the Foley's chain. (Lazarus stores were transferred to Macy's Midwest.)
- From 1988 to 1992, R. H. Macy & Co., Inc.'s Macy's South division was also headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with stores in Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana and Texas operating as Macy's, while stores in California, Arizona and Nevada operated as Bullock's. The former South division was formed following Macy's acquisition of Bullock's, incorporating Macy's Atlanta (the former Davison's stores renamed in 1985) with the Florida, Louisiana and Texas locations of Macy's New York and Bullock's. It was dissolved in 1992 and its stores consolidated into Macy's East and Macy's West.
- Macy's Midwest, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, from February 2006 until February 2008, was consolidated with Macy's South to form the more recent Macy's Central division. Prior to its consolidation, this Macy's Midwest division included 95 stores throughout the midwestern United States. There was a prior division of R. H. Macy & Co., Inc. named Macy's Midwest that was headquartered in Kansas City formed from a consolidation of two Macy's divisions, Lasalle's and Macy's Missouri-Kansas, in 1981. It was merged with Davison's to form Macy's Atlanta on February 1, 1985. Its former Lasalle's stores were sold to Elder-Beerman later that year and its former Kansas and Missouri stores were sold to Dillard's in 1986. Macy's Midwest incorporated several historic department store franchises owned by the former Federated Department Stores, Inc. and by May Company. The franchises represented by Macy's Midwest include The F&R Lazarus & Co., Shillito's, Rike Kumler Co., William H. Block Co., Horne's, Famous-Barr, L. S. Ayres, The Jones Store, Kaufmann's, May Company Ohio, O'Neil's and Strouss. St. Louis will remain as a regional headquarters location for a corporate region within Macy's Central. Another corporate regional headquarters within the division will be based in Cincinnati. In 2009 Macy's announced that they would downsize the former Famous-Barr flagship store in Downtown St. Louis from seven stories to three.
- Macy's West, was headquartered in San Francisco, with locations throughout the western United States, building on the foundation of store locations that first operated as O'Connor, Moffat & Company in San Francisco's Union Square and other sites. Prior to the February 2006 inclusion of May Company properties, the division included 232 stores/31,100 employees throughout Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Guam. In addition to Macy's stores, the division operated former Foley's locations in Colorado, New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, as well as Robinson's-May stores. After announced divestitures/store closures were completed by late 2006, this division operated approximately 190 stores, until consolidation with Macy's Northwest.
- Macy's Northwest, headquartered in Seattle, Washington from February 2006 until February 2008, was consolidated into Macy's West. Many of the locations were formerly locations of The Bon Marché, and the division included 71 stores/7,200 employees prior to the February 2006 inclusion of May Company properties. Store locations in the division were located throughout Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. In addition to former Bon Marché stores, the division added stores formerly operating as Meier & Frank, which in turn had included former ZCMI locations. Seattle will remain as a regional headquarters location for a corporate region within Macy's West.
- Macy's Florida, which was headquartered in Miami, Florida, included 61 stores/9,800 employees in Florida and Puerto Rico. The majority of the stores were formerly Burdines; the San Juan, Puerto Rico, store was transferred from Macy's East in August 2007.
In conjunction with these geographic divisions, the New York-based Macy's Home Store division was responsible for buying, planning and marketing home-related merchandise sold in all Macy's stores.
All store divisions nationwide were also served by two administrative divisions, prior to February 2009:
- Macy's Corporate Marketing headquartered in New York, responsible for overall activity on initiatives implemented to support the company's focus on Marketing.
- Macy's Merchandising Group, headquartered in New York, responsible for conceptualizing, designing, sourcing, and marketing private label and private branded goods sold at Macy's and managing core vendor relationships in the domestic branded market.
Macy's in Puerto Rico opened its doors in 2000, the first Macy's outside of the continental United States. It is located in the Plaza Las Américas mall in San Juan.
Macy's has a large portfolio of private brands that it produces for exclusive sale within its stores. These brands, which are advertised in store as "Only at Macy's", account for 20% of the company's sales. The merchandise in each brand is designed to appeal to different demographics and customers. Bar III, the most recent addition to the company's portfolio, was launched in Spring 2011.[25] Some of Macy's private brands are sold internationally in non-competing department stores.[26]
Macy's private brands include:
- Alfani (women's): wear-to-work clothes, sportswear, intimates, jewelry, shoes, and accessories
- Alfani (men's): sportswear, tailored clothing, shoes, and accessories
- American Rag: denim and separates
- Bar III: contemporary women's and men's clothing and bedding
- Charter Club: women's ready-to-wear, home goods
- Club Room: business casual menswear, sportswear, tailored clothing, furnishings, shoes, and accessories
- Epic Threads: urban and edgy clothing designed for tweens
- First Impressions: clothing for newborns and infants
- Giani Bernini: handbags, small leather goods, shoes, and jewelry
- Hotel Collection: luxury linens and mattresses
- I.N.C. International Concepts: fashion-forward modern clothing for women and men
- Jenni by Jennifer Moore: women's intimates, pajamas, loungewear, and lingerie; children's pajamas and loungewear branded as So Jenni
- JM Collection: work-to-weekend women's clothing
- John Ashford (men's): sportswear, tailored clothing, shoes, and accessories
- Style & Co.: women's sportswear, shoes, jewelry, handbags, accessories, and bedding
- Tasso Elba: European-inspired menswear characterized by luxury fabrics including sportswear, tailored clothing, furnishings, shoes, and accessories
- Tools of the Trade: cookware and cutlery
- Via Europa (men's): sportswear, tailored clothing, shoes, and accessories
A few of the effects of the textile industry are water deficit, pollution, fossil fuel and raw material consumption. In addition today’s mechanical textile plants use large amounts of energy, while also producing a throw-away mindset due to trends founded upon fast fashion and cheap clothing.[27] Despite the common consequences related to the textile industry, Macy’s has begun to evaluate their environmental effects to lessen their negative impact by promoting important environmental causes. One way Macy’s recently supported the environment was during Earth Week and National Park Week 2008 by raising money with their “Turn over a New Leaf” project. This campaign helps to promote environmental awareness relating to shopping bags and their detrimental effect on the environment.[28] Most plastic shopping bags are made using petroleum, and it takes more than 1000 years to break them down in landfills.[29] Because Macy’s uses approximately 43 million shopping bags each year, this can drastically alter the environment. Because of this, many Macy’s stores now sell reusable cotton tote bags. In addition to the company’s bag transition, Macy’s is also replacing their synthetic, nonbiodegradable packing peanuts that accounts for 3.1 million cubic feet (88,000 m3) of in-box material per year with loosefill material created from corn and potato starch. This new material will break down within 9 minutes with water in the landfills.[28]
In July 2003, then-New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer launched an investigation of the private policing system Macy's has used to deal with suspected shoplifters. The investigation was prompted by a civil rights lawsuit and an article in The New York Times, which reported on many of Macy's tactics, including private jails and interrogations.[30] Spitzer's investigation found many of Macy's actions, from ethnic profiling to handcuffing detainees, to be unlawful. Macy's settled the civil rights complaint for US$600,000, claiming to have put the illegal tactics to an end while maintaining the security system itself.[31]
The Macy's East downtown Boston store (formerly the Jordan Marsh flagship) touched off a local public relations firestorm with the June 6, 2006, removal of two mannequins and the Web address of the AIDS Action Committee from a window display promoting Boston's annual gay pride celebration. The removal was apparently in response to pressure from MassResistance, a local group opposed to same-sex marriage, whose members complained the mannequins were "homosexual". The removal of the mannequins was widely condemned by residents and officials, including Boston mayor Thomas Menino, who was quoted as saying:
I'm very surprised that Macy's would bend to that type of pressure. Macy's was celebrating a part of our community, gay pride, and they should be proud of the gay community, and I'm proud of the gay community and gay pride.[32]
Macy's response to the debacle was to publish an apology by the Macy's East chairman, Ron Klein, in In Newsweekly, a Boston-area weekly with a large gay readership. Klein's description of the incident as "an internal breakdown in communication," further stated it was regrettable some would doubt Macy's commitment to diversity as a result.[33] The Web address was later restored—the mannequins, however never made a reappearance.
Macy's Boston was also a target of Animal Rights protesters, who held signs and handed out pamphlets throughout the 1990s regarding Macy's participation in the fur trade industry. Macy's West had at the time stopped carrying their line of fur coats and apparel, and although the demonstrations have since quieted, Macy's East continues to sell fur coats and apparel, as does a portion of Macy's South stores.
In December 2011 Natalie Johnson, a former Macy's employee, was fired from her San Antonio, Texas store for refusing to allow a transgendered woman to change in the women's dressing room. Johnson claimed that due to her religion, she is not permitted to recognize transgendered people. Having violated Macy's LGBT policy, she was fired.[34] The decision has come under fire in both the LGBT community and the Christian community.[citation needed]
- The phrase "Does Macy's tell Gimbels?" was a phrase once used in the U.S. as a put-off to inquiring people, the implication being that a company does not give information out to its competitors.[35] Gimbels was the other large department a block away on 33rd Street from Macy's. It has since folded.
- The classic Christmas film Miracle on 34th Street (1947) is set in Macy's 34th Street flagship store. Subsequent remakes of the film for television (1955, 1959, and 1973) are also set in Macy's. However, a 1994 remake of the film was set in the fictional "Cole's" department store after Macy's refused to have its name used in the remake of the original film.
- A less sentimental view of Macy's department store Santas can be found in the essay "SantaLand Diaries" by David Sedaris, which is frequently played on National Public Radio around Christmas, and has also been adapted for the stage.
- Isidor Straus, the longtime co-owner of Macy's, was one of the best-known casualties of the infamous sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Although Straus and his wife Ida had a chance to get on one of the lifeboats, Isidor refused, saying that he wouldn't go ahead of the younger men, and Ida, not wanting to leave her husband behind, stayed with him on the ship. The moment was immortalized in the 1958 film A Night to Remember, and was later used in both the 1997 film and the Broadway musical.
- In the Latin American literary classic Empire of Dreams by Giannina Braschi the heroine Mariquita Samper is a makeup artist who works at Macy's on 34th Street.
- The U.S. version of the music video "Heard 'Em Say" by Kanye West and Adam Levine (lead singer of Maroon 5) was filmed inside Macy's Herald Square. The video features West and homeless children playing inside a closed Macy's at night, when Levine, as a store manager, lets them in.
- The pop punk band Green Day has a song called "Macy's Day Parade" on their album, Warning.
- In the song "Tangerine," reference is made to the girl's clothes having labels that read "Macy's Mezzanine."
- In the 1976 musical drama Bugsy Malone, Bugsy, talking about his boxing past says, "This jaw has more glass in it than Macys."
- A female child named Patty in Christmas Eve on Sesame Street proposes that Macy's would know more about Santa Claus than anybody excluding the man himself.
- Notes
- ^ "Store Count and Square Footage", Macy's Inc. Visited on July 6, 2011.
- ^ "Store Count and Square Footage – Macy's, Inc.". Macy's Inc.. http://www.macysinc.com/investors/storeinformation/squarefootage.aspx. Retrieved March 29, 2010.
- ^ "Largest department store-world record set by Shinsegae Centum City". http://www.worldrecordsacademy.org/biggest/largest_department_store-world_record_set_by_Shinsegae_Centum_City_90219.htm. Retrieved May 8, 2011.
- ^ a b c Abelson, Elaine S. "R. H. Macy" in Jackson, Kenneth T. (ed.), The Encyclopedia of New York City (2nd edition). New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-11465-2, p.1102
- ^ L.H. Robbins, "The City Department Store: Evolution of 75 Years," The New York Times, February 12, 1933, 130.
- ^ Evans, Stephen (2005-03-01). "The death of the department store". news.bbc.co.uk (BBC News). http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4309051.stm. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
- ^ Burrows, Edwin G. & Wallace, Mike (1999). Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195116348. , pp.945–946
- ^ a b "Abiel T. La Forge". New York Times. February 13, 1878, Wednesday. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=950CE2DA113FE63BBC4B52DFB4668383669FDE. Retrieved June 14, 2008.
- ^ a b "Robert M. Valentine's Will". New York Times. February 26, 1879, Wednesday. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C07E0D9123EE73BBC4E51DFB4668382669FDE. Retrieved June 14, 2008. "The will of Robert M. Valentine, late partner in the firm of R. H. Macy Co., was offered for probate yesterday in the Surrogate's office."
- ^ "Rowland H. Macy, Merchant". The New York Times. March 31, 1877, Wednesday. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9403EEDF123FE63BBC4950DFB566838C669FDE. Retrieved June 14, 2008.
- ^ a b White, Norval & Willensky, Elliot (2000). AIA Guide to New York City (4th ed.). New York: Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0812931076. , pp.225–226
- ^ Wurman, Richard Saul (2008). Access New York City, p. 133. HarperCollins.
- ^ "R.H. Macy and Company Store". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. September 11, 2007. http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1772&ResourceType=Building.
- ^ George R. Adams (February, 1977). National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: R. H. Macy and Company StorePDF (554 KB). National Park Service. and Accompanying 4 photos, exterior, undatedPDF (1.03 MB)
- ^ a b Federated At-A-Glance, Federated Department Stores, Inc.
- ^ Roger Ebert, "Marshall Field's vs. Macy's," Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2007 (Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2007), 829.
- ^ Federated Agrees to Sell Lord & Taylor to NRDC Equity Partners; Transaction Expected to Close in Third Quarter of 2006, Federated Department Stores, Inc., June 22, 2006.
- ^ "Federated Plans Corporate Name Change". Federated Department Stores. http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=84477&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=967632&highlight=. Retrieved March 22, 2007.
- ^ "Macy's, Inc. To Trade As M On NYSE". Federated Department Stores. http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=84477&p=irol-newsArticle_Print&ID=978833&highlight=. Retrieved April 5, 2007.
- ^ bnet.com (March 19, 2009). "Macy's Takes on Lifestyle Challenge with New Store Concept". http://industry.bnet.com/retail/10001002/macys-takes-on-lifestyle-challenge-with-new-store-concept/. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
- ^ cblproperties.com (May 8, 2006). "Macy’s Announces Plans for Pearland Town Center". http://cblproperties.com/cbl.nsf/macy?openpage. Retrieved May 1, 2010. [dead link]
- ^ Jarman, Max (March 19, 2009). "Macy's to open store geared to Arizona families". The Arizona Republic. http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2009/03/19/20090319biz-macys0319.html. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
- ^ Halkias, Maria (July 28, 2009). "Macy's tailors stores, including new Fairview location, to match local tastes". Dallas Morning News. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/072809dnbusmacys.3ac6ecd.html. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
- ^ http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=84477&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1105123&highlight=
- ^ Private Brands and Exclusive Merchandise
- ^ Private Brands
- ^ Emerging Textiles February 2008. Retrieved: May 4, 2008
- ^ a b Timesunion April 21, 2008 Retrieved: May 4, 2008[dead link]
- ^ Detroit Free Press April 22, 2008 Retrieved: May 4, 2008[dead link]
- ^ In Stores, Private Handcuffs for Sticky Fingers, The New York Times, June 17, 2003, reprint of [1]
- ^ Macy's Settles Complaint of Racial Profiling for US$600,000, The New York Times, January 14, 2005.
- ^ Now you see 'em, now you don't, Bay Windows, June 8, 2006.
- ^ CEO admits 'Macy's mistake', In Newsweekly, June 14, 2006.
- ^ http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/texas_macys_employee_fired_in.html
- ^ The Big Apple: Does Macy's Tell Gimbels? Barry Popik, October 7, 2004.
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Total Revenue:  US$26.313 billion ( FY 2007) · Employees: 182,000 · Stock Symbol: NYSE: M · Website: macysinc.com
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Store conversions to Macy's
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