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Interesting, Macy's like any other business, especially McDonalds who wrote the book on selecting 'locations' rely on an expertise to establish a store where it makes the most profit. Some areas of the hinterlands such as Montana probably follow retirees from the east or enclaves of the ultra rich entertainers and sports figures.
An aside, I have a Old Town canoe with a serial number stamped into the stem and stern. You can contact Old Town Canoe Co. give them the serial number and they have a 'build sheet' for that canoe. My canoe had a brass plate nailed to the deck that had Macy and co, NY, NY embossed on it. I sent the serial # to Old Town and receibved a copy of the original build sheet. Ink stamped dates show exactly when each step of construction was completed. This canoe began construction in 1936 and finally was shipped to Macy's in January of 1937. Never knew Macy's sold canoes but here is documented evidence. Don't know what the spectrum of their product line is today but I'll bet it dosesn't include wood and canvas canoes...with sponsons!
Macy's didn't kill that, American consumers did. With the advent of discount stores (primarily WalMart), most Americans threw downtown shopping areas under the bus for discount shopping in the 'burbs. When those downtown department stores failed Macy's moved in to take over many of them. Be thankful a decent store moved in, versus many locations that now sit empty.
No, this happened way before WalMart came on the scene. With the building of the urban freeways in the 50s-60s, the dept stores in most cities opened branches in the burbs, later locating in suburban malls. By the 1980s, most of the great downtown stores had been closed.
There is nothing exclusive or unique about Macy's. They acquired FEDERATED department stores and then subsequently began buying, closing and/or converting EVERY major hometown department store in America into the Macy's brand. Some of the greatest, most historic hometown department store chains in this country have been turned into Macy's and reduced to little more than glorified JC Pennys -- Rich's of Atlanta, Burdine's of Miami, Maison Blanche in New Orleans, Foley's in Dallas, Hudson's in Minneapolis and perhaps the most offensive and agregious Macy's takeover of all: Marshall-Fields in Chicago. MILLIONS OF AMERICANS 9myself included) refuse to shop at Macy's for what they have done to the retail fabric of this country.
Maison Blanche was bought out by and converted to Dillard's years ago. Long before Macy's large expansion.
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Originally Posted by motorman
Not that it matters, but many consumers may associate Macy's with its beloved flagship store on 34th St. in NYC--when its home base is actually Cincinnati, Ohio...
I just used that example because I don't expect anyone to find a 9-floor Macy's in the middle of Montana or Wyoming.
Foley's was a Houston department store, already owned by MayCo and merged with Sanger Harris of Dallas in the mid 80's. There really weren't any independent department stores left by the time MayCo and Federated merged. Even Marshall Fields had been owned for years by Dayton-Hudson (aka Target). Did you know you could even use a Mervyn's card in Marshall Fields? In fact the reason MayCo had to merge was because they over spent on Marshall Fields whom they had bought from Target. In fact MayCo was going down hard, closing Lord & Taylor's as fast as they could as well as other stores, all branded with their "hometown name". Isn't it funny that Macy's hasn't had to close any original macy's locations since 2007 the year of the nationwide branding. The only stores they've closed were terrible old nonproductive MayCo stores.
They absorbed something like 15-16 chains around the massive 2006 conversion of regional department store chains into Macy's, so I wouldn't be surprised if that was why? (lol) Not to mention, Federated had slowly been changing department stores into Macy's earlier than the 2000s(i.e. Davison's in the Atlanta area into Macy's in 1986, Bamberger's in New Jersey in 1986, Jordan Marsh in Massachusetts in 1996).
Macy's bought lots of local department stores and chains. Here in the Twin Cities, they bought Dayton's, once the cities' premier department stores. Now that they are Macy's, their service, selection and quality have declined. Used to shop at Dayton's a lot, but mostly I'll go to Kohl's before I'll go to Macy's. Nothing special about it.
I think its a shame that they bought SO many local department stores. At the very least they should've let the stores keep their original name.
Have their been cases where Macy's has been in the same shopping center with Wal-Mart?
Yes. Manassas Mall in Virginia has a Target, Sears, JCPenney, Wal-mart, and of course Macys. Its not exactly the premier mall of the DC suburbs and I've never been but heard about the super Walmart that was being built at the mall because Wal-mart opening stores always manages to make the news.
I am wondering what is the deal with Macy's? What is up with their company right now? I heard Macy's used to look for high population areas, but then seeing how Macy's is in some parts of Montana, Hawaii, and other under populated areas I think income is more important. I mean Macy's is in Hilo and there is hardly any population there.
Anyways, I think Macy's is a great store. It's one of the desirable chain stores I like.
But how do they end up in undesirable cities and yet also appear in desirable cities?
As far as Hawaii, Macy's bought Liberty House in 2001.
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