It's Official - Everything is now Macy's

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support :

From an article in the Wall Street Journal this week - I was very saddened by this, though I should have seen it coming. Federated Dept. Stores decided that all non-Bloomingdale's regional stores in the Federated lineup will now be known as just Macy's effective March 6. So that means no more Rich's, Goldsmith's, Lazarus',Burdines' or Bon Marche. For the past year or two, they all kept their regional names, hyphenated with Macy's after. Removing the names of their founders now removes any remaining traces of originality or regional flavor. It was bad enough when they consolidated the great, venerated regional names Abraham & Straus, Bullock's, I. Magnin, Bullock's Wilshire, Boston Store, Shillito's and Rike's into those 5 chains above. And if the Federated acquisition of May Dept. Stores goes forward, soon the whole nation will be Macy's.
I suppose to the average shopper, this won't matter all that much. But while I understand corporate efficienies, etc... something about this still rubs me the wrong way........
 
Macy`s

In my area it was Goldsmith`s, which was an exclusive store and now is about like target.
 
Macy's

That's too bad, not that I'm familliar with all those other stores other than the names. I don't think Macy's is doing all that hot anyway, now. Usually when a widespread corporate decision like that is made, someone suffers, whether it be the chain or the consumer, not that Macy's is a bad company, but it doesn't have to be coast to coast
Jerry
 
Here in Minneapolis we had the venerable, locally-owned Dayton's since 1902. In 1962, they opened the very first Target (yes it all started here!) (sadly they have just torn down the original 1962 Target to build a Super Target, not that the original looked anything like it once did, but I digress) (at the headquarters downtown they have pictures of the store as it originally looked).

Anyway, we had the Dayton Company, which started Target, then bought Hudson's in Michigan to become Dayton-Hudson, then in 1990 they bought Marshall Fields (many think it was the other way around, but it was not). Target later circumvented Dayton's success so they changed the corporate name to Target, who in turn decided to spin off their department stores to focus on Target.

What's interesting is all of the above took about 90 years, and now we barely have the ink dry on the paper making Marshall Fields a May affiliate, and now May is poised to be sucked up by Federated. *Where* are we going to shop they run out of companies to merge with?!
 
It truly is a sad day. I remember even in my small howm town of Lewisburg PA having department stores that sold everything. Where has this all gone!!!!!!!. Some ome mentioned here on this thead or over on the Laundry room forum that we're everything is gonna become a national brand name. What ever happend to indivuality, and ture market. Maybe i'm getting old or maybe I'm just remembering my chldhood, but damn---what's happening in this country. Seems we all want it now and we want it yesterday. Thus the merger and end of great stores that have served the public well for decades. I'm very sad now
 
Perish the thought...

This all reminds me of a (horrible) movie with Sly Stallone and Sandra Bullock set in the future where all the restaraunt franchise wars were ultimately won by a single company that controlled all the food sales and distribution in the country - Taco Bell.
 
This sums it up

"February 27, 2005
James Flanigan:
A Federated-May Deal Could Just Mean a Bigger Dinosaur

MAY DEPARTMENT STORES
FEDERATED DEPARTMENT STORES INC

Would Macy's tell Gimbel's?

Maybe. Except, as New Yorkers well know, Gimbel's isn't around to listen anymore.

Neither, for that matter, is Bullock's or Broadway in Los Angeles. Or Wanamaker's in Philadelphia. Or J.L. Hudson in Detroit.

Heading into the weekend, Federated Department Stores Inc. — owner of the Macy's and Bloomingdale's chains — looked to be in the final stages of its mating dance with May Department Stores Co. If May accepts Federated's bid, which is reportedly for more than $10 billion, it would create a retailing behemoth with 1,000 stores nationwide.

But make no mistake: This is the twilight of the department-store dinosaur — a sector whose fall is a sobering reminder of just how fast consumer trends can change and seemingly sure-fire business bets can turn sour.

It was only 25 years ago that department stores bestrode the retailing universe. As one analyst put it at the time, in city after city, "you know which is THE store in town": Rich's in Atlanta, Garfinckel's in Washington, Hochschild Kohn in Baltimore.

Vendors jostled to get inside. If Estee Lauder wanted to create buzz for its latest fragrance, it did so by introducing it at a particular chain. If Donna Karan wanted its new line to have some sizzle, it offered a one-year exclusive to, say, Burdine's.

Department stores had the clout in those days — and they weren't afraid to use it. If a manufacturer tried to sell to one of the emerging class of discount stores, the rules were very clear: The label had to be different from the more alluring one displayed in department-store cases.

Throughout the 1970s, glossy magazine stories and television programs featured young people thronged in the housewares section of the Bloomingdale's at 59th and Lexington in New York. In New Jersey, the president of the Abraham & Straus chain gushed over the crowds snapping up denim suits for $29.99 apiece.

"It's a circus," he proclaimed in 1975.

The tent, however, would soon begin to empty.

In the 1980s, specialty chains began to lure customers away. Columbus, Ohio, entrepreneur Leslie Wexner took public the Limited, which catered to young women. And then, in an inspired move, he launched Victoria's Secret. That diverted highly profitable lingerie sales away from department-store aisles.

The concept of value pricing also began to gain momentum with the spread of discount stores, which filled their shelves with an abundance of merchandise imported and domestic.

The department stores tried to fight back.

Even with all the sheen, 80% of their merchandise traditionally was basic goods — moderately priced dresses and accessories, lingerie, shoes and socks and some housewares. But the other 20% was real fashion — something a little prettier and pricier that brought customers in the door and accounted for a major share of profits.

Beset by the burgeoning competition, the department stores decided to focus more on fashion as a way to increase earnings.

At Macy's, for example, a new chief executive named Edward Finkelstein — renowned as a "merchant," the trade's highest encomium — created a stir by offering more stylish items in apparel and in housewares.

For a while, the strategy seemed to work. But over time, it backfired.

Finkelstein and fellow executives, backed by Wall Street's Goldman, Sachs & Co. and other investors, acquired Macy's in 1986 for $3.5 billion in a leveraged buyout. Their thinking was that department stores were a necessity — like water or oxygen — and customers would keep coming and plunking down their cash. With the money flowing in, the executives and their backers could pay down the company's debt, sell the stock again and become fabulously rich.

The theory was infectious. A Montreal real estate developer named Robert Campeau took over two department store chains, including giant Federated, in 1988.

The trouble was, the customers didn't keep coming. Instead, they turned increasingly to value chains such as Target Corp., which the Minnesota legislature had saved from a hostile raider's LBO in 1988. Or they patronized specialty stores — Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., Williams-Sonoma Inc., Gap Inc. and others — that sprang up to become the new destinations in retail.

Macy's and Federated filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the early 1990s, and emerged eventually with Federated buying Macy's as well as the Broadway chain. May stayed out of bankruptcy court but had to shutter stores and merge chains in the early '90s (which is how J.W. Robinson and May Co. became Robinson's-May).

The department stores that survived this period, meanwhile, were no longer glamour spots.

In many respects, they've became purveyors of commodities — "replenishment stores where you go if you need socks or underwear," says Joshua Goldberg of Mercantile Capital Partners, a New York investment bank specializing in retail properties.

And, of course, there are a lot of cheaper places now to get socks and underwear. The king of cheap, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., last year posted $285 billion in sales and $10 billion in profit. It's the biggest company in the world. And who knows? It may continue to be so for a long, long time.

But if history is any guide, consumers are a fickle lot. And just where they'll choose to shop in the years ahead is anybody's guess."
 

scott55405

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 26, 2004
Messages
1,831
Pulsator-Power, yes Marshall Fields (or Dayton's to us in Minneapolis) is set to become part of Federated, and I suppose will be renamed Macy's down the road (or Dayton's, once again, to long time Minneapolis residents).

Target sold its department store division last year to May, who my understanding is, bit off more than they could chew in doing so, and which is why this latest deal is now taking place. So Target will remain as it always has, having sold the department stores because they wanted to focus solely on the Target concept.
 
We were at a Foley's in Tulsa this weekend and the clerks were all talking about the takeover. Their stock had really jumped and they hoped it would stay up until the takeover. My wife and I bought lots of our first at Foley's when it was just Houston, Texas based. Had great prices for young folks. Early 70's just out of college and us with 2 young kids always shopped there. Our first were bedroom set, livingroom set, everday dinner service, color tv ect. Now the name will probabally be gone within a couple of years.
 
Our local Mall...

Has a Macy's, Filene's (formerly New England's own G. Fox & Co)
& Lord & Taylor, which will all get sucked up into the same company. Basically, all the malls in the area have the same conglomeration of stores. I don't know how many will survive. What ever happened to competition? They can't have 3 Macy's in one mall.
Jerry
 
The Proffits store in Greenville NC closed down-Its going to be replaced by another Belks according to the Proffits employee when I asked her.There is Already two of them in that mall-guess they will considate them in the former Proffits store-Its a larger space in the Mall.
 
And let's remember that Foley's and Filene's were once Federated star divisions. When Robert Campeau realized that his ill fated takeover of Allied Stores and Federated Stores left him strangling in debt, he sold both of those divisions to May. And he sold Bullock's and I. Magnin to Macy's who quickly disposed of those venerable names. Now the newly reorganized Federated has already reacquired what was once Bullock's and I.Magnin, and will get back Foley's and Filene's.

I hold little hope of any of the May stores retaining their names. The Wall Street Journal already reported that Federated will change all of the regional stores names in the Midwest to Macy's. I would think though that Federated would try to hold onto the Lord and Taylor and Marshall Field names and make them "upper tier" stores.

Jerry, I also read that there are sure to be store closings though which ones remain to be decided. In our area, the Trumbull mall is anchored by Macy's Filene's and Lord & Taylor. I think you will eventually see those mall stores that have been closed taken by some "big box" retailers or perhaps Target. Oh, well.............
 
Foley's is where I bought my 1978 GE pair. It was where I saw the first Norge VHQ washer. And other meorable appliances and things. My everyday dishers were purchased in late 1961 or early 1962 at Foley's very first suburban store. I love those dishes. It's where my mom got all my clothes for me, even into college. I had an original 1975 Foley's charge card still in my possession when a store was opened here in Temple in the mid 90s. You should have seen the look on the clerks' faces. I proudly exclaimed mhy family had been customers since the 1930s. Now I gotta go smoke a cigarette. Whew!!!
 
Back
Top