Ten Dept. Stores will be renamed Macy's in 2006

[Max]

Earlier this year, Federated Department Stores (owners of Macy's and Bloomingdale's) acquired May Department Stores (owners of many different regional department stores). Upon completion of this acquisition, Federated decided to convert all of May's regional nameplates into Macy's. The following stores will be renamed Macy's sometime in 2006:

-- Famous-Barr locations in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri;

-- Filene's locations in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont;

-- Foley's locations in Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas;

-- Hecht's locations in Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and the District of Columbia;

-- The Jones Store locations in Kansas and Missouri;

-- Kaufmann's locations in New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia;

-- L.S. Ayres locations in Indiana;

-- Marshall Field's locations in Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Indiana, Ohio, and South Dakota;

-- Meier & Frank locations in Oregon, Utah and Washington;

-- Robinsons-May locations in Arizona, California and Nevada; and

-- Strawbridge's locations in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Once this conversion is complete, the number of Macy's stores in this country will double. Actually, Macy's has greatly expanded its presence through the years by taking over so many regional department store nameplates. In addition to the stores listed above, the following stores have also been renamed Macy's at some point in time: A&S, Bamberger's, The Bon-Marche, Bullock's, Burdine's, Davison's, Goldsmith's, I. Magnin, Jordan Marsh, Lazarus, Rich's, and Stern's.

Personally, I think it really sucks that so many local department stores have been (and will be) renamed Macy's for several reasons. First of all, the regional department stores were very in-synch with local tastes, whereas Macy's just promotes New York fashions throughout the entire country. Second, the local department stores were always involved in community affairs, whereas Macy's could care less about the individual communities it serves (other than New York). Third, despite the fact that both Macy's and all of the regional stores listed above are/were mid-priced department stores, Macy's charges more for merchandise than the other stores ever did. (The reason for this is that in virtually every market in the country, Macy's is--or soon will be--the only mid-priced department store. Since there is no competition among the mid-priced market, Macy's is free to raise its prices.) Finally, in the case of many of the former May-owned department stores, there is a lot of overlap between the May stores and Macy's (meaning that many malls have both a May-owned store and a Macy's in them). In malls where such overlap will exist, the May-owned store will simply shut its doors while the Macy's store remains, thus reducing the number of department stores and eliminating competition. (Although in some malls where overlap occurs, the current Macy's store will shut down and the May-owned department store in that mall will be renamed Macy's. Nevertheless, these malls will still lose a department store.)

P.S. The slaughter of department stores will likely continue in the future. That's because Federated is also likely to shut down Lord & Taylor (which was May's nationally based luxury department store). The reason why Federated will likely shut down Lord & Taylor is because the company does not want it to compete with Bloomingdale's (which is the only luxury department store that the company is committed to).

P.P.S. Actually, I the title of this thread is incorrect: the number of department stores to be renamed Macy's next year will be eleven, instead of ten. I am sorry for this error.

[WTGH]

I can't believe they bought Hecht's...

[R!ck]

I like my Kaufmann's just the way it is thank you very much!

[Chris B]

I love Macy's, but I prefer Foley's bc they actually have sales for men, lol. I will definitely miss them.

[crc]

L.S. Ayres is the about the only store around here that I can find clothes that I like. I hope that doesn't change much with Macy's taking over. Although, I hate how I'll owe no more than $200 on my L.S. Ayres credit card and would still have to make a monthly payment of at least $50. Ridiculous!

[Chanel]

This is so ridiculous!

I loved STRAWBRIDGES!!

[Max]

I decided to bump this thread because so much as happened since the previous post was written. Before I continue further, however, I want to point out an error in the thread's title: there will be ELEVEN, and not ten, department stores converting to Macy's this year. For a list of these stores, please refer to the first post in this thread.

While the official name change will not happen until Saturday, September 9, much has already occurred: For starters, all of the house-brand merchandise in the former May-owned stores has been dropped and been replaced by Macy's house-brands. Furthermore, advertisements for the Macy's credit card appear all throughout the May stores. Additionally, I have read many complaints on the internet that the level of service and cleanliness at the May stores is worse than ever. (This is in keeping with Macy's notorious reputation for having messy stores and horrible customer service.) As a matter of fact, it seems (by now) that all of the changes have pretty much taken place aside from the name change itself.

One of the biggest changes that has occurred all across the country is the closure of duplicate May locations. (By "duplicate" locations, I am referring to a May location that was in the same mall as a Macy's prior to the name change of the former May stores to Macy's.) Virtually all of these store closures have taken place months ago. (Although, keep in mind, that the current Macy's store remaining open while the former May store being closed has not been the scenario in all the duplicate store closures. Rather, there are some instances where the former May location--in the mall--became a Macy's while the former Macy's location was closed.) These store closures really suck, because competion is eliminated in these malls. And, keep in mind that there were many malls--about 80 across the country--which had both a Macy's and a May-owned department store.

I am very much interested in reading your comments regarding the current state of the May-owned stores that will soon be renamed Macy's. In particular, I'd like to know the answers to the following questions:

*How many changes (towards making the store look like a Macy's) have already occurred at the May-owned stores that you visit? What are those changes?

*Are the May-owned stores (you go to) messier or cleaner than they used to be?

*Is the service better or worse?

*Do you miss the May-owned stores, or are you glad to be getting a Macy's?

*Do you live near any malls that suffered store closings in an effort to prevent duplicate Macy's locations? What effect has this had on this/these mall(s)?

I'd like to conlude by listing all of the stores that have changed their names to Macy's over the past generation. Believe it or not, over two dozen department stores since 1985 have been wiped out solely due to changing their names to Macy's. Keep in mind that this list is arranged chronologically, by the year when each department store was renamed Macy's. Also keep in mind that this list may not be 100% accurrate, as there could very well be other department stores that have also been renamed Macy's. (This list included only those stores that I am aware of having been renamed Macy's.)

1985:

Davison's

1986:

Bamberger's

1995:

A&S (Abraham & Straus)

I. Magnin

1996:

The Broadway

Bullock's

Jordan Marsh

2001:

Liberty House

Stern's

2005:

The Bon-Marche

Burdine's

Goldsmith's

Lazarus

Rich's

2006 (all divisions of the now defunct May Department Stores Company):

Famous-Barr

Filene's

Foley's

Hecht's

The Jones Store

Kaufmann's

L.S. Ayres

Marshall Field's

Meier & Frank

Robinsons-May

Strawbridge's

[King]

Our Kauffmann's has already started the transition! It's so weird to think our little city will have a Macy's!

[Shawn]

Frankly, I find this to be good news. I love Macy's and its amazing selection. The one here in Manhattan has five stories completely devoted to men. Its amazing.

Not everyone will be happy, but what can you do. I'm for the transition.

[rxcats]

Macy's is probably my favorite department store. The one at Union Square, here in San Francisco, has an entire store of just men's clothing (maybe 5 or so floors). They also have housewares and furniture as well as women's clothes, cosmetics, etc. Soon they will be carrying an upscale line of Martha Stewart products in various departments; better that crap from K-mart.

[Bree]

I loved my Hecht's and Strawbridge stores. They always had sales too. I wasn't a big fan of Macy's, but now I'll guess I have to be. I already got my new Macy's credit card in the mail this week.

I'll probably be there at Christmastime.

[DaysnPassionsFan]

Yup, Macy's Union Sqaure (unless something has changed) is the 3rd largest department store in the world after Macy's in NY and Harrod's in London.

Anyway, its wierd. I've grown up with Macy's everywhere here in the Bay Area. But I do understand why people wouldn't be happy with this.

[WTGH]

I'm so JEALOUS!!!!!

Men usually get lumped in with houseware and electronics.

[Danni]

My mom and I know most of the employees who work at Macy's Herald Square. Even the security guards know us.

[King]

People just don't like to lose what they are familiar with, I am guessing.