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I remember that Macy's bought out some of our good, locally owned high end department stores. Then the quality went way down.
I live in Chicago, where Macy's bought out Marshall Field's. Quality of everything (e.g. merchanidise, customer service, even shopping bags) immediately went down. Some Macy's stores are decent, while others have gotten borderline junky.
Nordstrom, and perhaps Von Maur and Lord & Taylor, are upper-middle end.
Macy's and Dillard's are middle-end.
JCPenney, Sears, and Kohls are lower-middle end.
Target, Kmart, and Walmart, if considering a traditional department store, are low-end.
The hiearchy from high-end to low-end correlates with the number of locations each brand of store has.
Macy's confuses a lot of folks because the brand name has historical prestige and well, a lot of history. Nowadays, though, I don't think you can get any more middle of the road than Macy's, and I think Macy's can appeal to just about everybody.
~MoKan
I agree with you, except for Dillard's. The one I shopped in Scottsdale had nicer stuff all around than Macy's, which is very middle of the road.
This is how I would rank them from highest to lowest:
Saks 5th Ave - High
Nordstrom - Middle to High
Lord & Taylor - Middle
Macy's - Middle
JCPenney - Low to Middle
Sears - Low
Wal-Mart - Low
Agree with this one. And to me Macy's clothes are more for people 50 and up. I don't shop clothes there. Instead I can find something I can wear in Dillard's.
JC Penney has benefited from store investment. They have expanded and diversified beyond apparel. Say what you will about Ron Johnson, but he made the stores look much better. Frankly most JC Penney stores I have been in look nicer than the Macy’s or Lord & Taylors in the same mall.
Sears on the other hand has had little to no investment in stores since Eddie bought them in 2005. Sears is a sinking ship, that has basically been in a managed bankruptcy for the past 13 years.
Macy’s will also survive, strengthened by eliminating many locations over the past few years.
Neiman Marcus may not make it, it currently has a crushing debt load. The companies owned by HBC (Saks & Lord & Taylor) are a wild card. Their future is less certain.
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Quality of everything (e.g. merchanidise, customer service, even shopping bags) immediately went down. Some Macy's stores are decent, while others have gotten borderline junky.
