Macy's IP Holdings, LLC doing business as Macy's,[5] is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34th Street that opened in 1902. It expanded beyond the New York metropolitan area by acquisitions and conversions of regional department stores, facilitated by the purchase of Macy's by Federated Department Stores in 1994. It achieved a national footprint with the acquisition of The May Department Stores Company by Federated in 2005, which resulted in the conversion of its department stores to Macy's in 2006 and the renaming of Federated to Macy's, Inc. in 2007. Macy's is also a sister brand to the upmarket Bloomingdale's department store chain and Bluemercury beauty store chain.
Macy's is the largest department store company by retail sales in the United States, with 94,000 employees and an annual revenue of $25.3 billion as of 2023.[6] It operates 450 locations in the country and its territories Puerto Rico and Guam as of 2025. Macy's Herald Square is one of the largest department stores in the world, spanning approximately 1.1 e6sqft of selling space and covering nearly an entire New York City block; its value is estimated at $3 billion.[7] Macy's has conducted the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City since 1924 and has sponsored the city's annual Macy's 4th of July Fireworks since 1976.[8]
19th-century history
Rowland Hussey Macy opened four retail dry goods stores between 1843 and 1855. One of them was the original Macy's store in downtown Haverhill, Massachusetts; it opened 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, to establish a new store named "R. H. Macy & Co." on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets. The location was far north of where other dry goods stores were at the time.[9] On the company's first day of business on October 28, 1858, sales totaled $11.08, equal to $0 today. The branding emblem at the onset of the 1858 store was a rooster. The red star did not appear to replace it until 1862.[10]
As the business grew, Macy's expanded into neighboring buildings, opening more and more departments. The store used publicity devices such as a store Santa Claus, themed exhibits, and illuminated window displays to draw in customers.[11]
20th-century history
Construction of Macy's Herald Square
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.[9] 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 (equivalent to $ in ) 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. In 1912, Isidor Straus died in the sinking of the Titanic at the age of 67 with his wife, Ida.[15]
21st-century history
In 2000 Macy's opened its doors in Puerto Rico, the chain's first location in a U.S. territory. It is located in the Plaza Las Américas mall in San Juan.
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.[32] 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.
Retail formats
Macy's
- Macy's – chain of department stores usually located in shopping malls; in properties that have multiple Macy's locations, the second stores are often arranged in the following department configurations:
- Women and Children
- Furniture Clearance
- Furniture Gallery
- Furniture and Kids'
- Furniture and Men's
- Furniture, Home, Kids', and Men's
- Furniture, Home, and Men's
- Furniture, Kids', and Men's
- Home, Kids' and Men's
- Home, Kids', and Women's
- Home and Men's
- Kids' and Men's
- Men's
Macy's Backstage
Flagship stores
As of March 2025, Macy's operates three flagship stores. Many of these locations were converted from regional department stores that were acquired by Federated.
Criticism and controversy
Macy's has had a long history with issues concerning discriminatory practices. 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.[98] Spitzer's investigation found many of Macy's actions, from ethnic profiling to handcuffing detainees, to be unlawful. In 2005, Macy's settled the civil rights complaint for $600,000 (equivalent to $ in ), claiming to have put the illegal tactics to an end while maintaining the security system itself.[99]
On June 6, 2006, Macy's downtown Boston store (formerly the Jordan Marsh flagship) removed 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 controversial and Boston mayor Thomas Menino 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.
Gallery
See also
External links
References
- Investors – Financial Reporting – Store Count Macy's, Inc., retrieved April 19, 2025^
- Leadership Team macysinc^
- Andy Brownfield. Macy's dishes details on new type of store The Business Journals, February 3, 2020, retrieved March 1, 2021