According to Women’s Wear Daily, struggling, Cincinnati-based retailer Macy’s may be the target of a buyout. Despite grand plans to become a nationwide discount department store, Macy’s has been struggling to make any money.
From BusinessWeek:
Last week, the Cincinnati-based retailer posted a larger-than-expected 2.7% drop in same-store sales for June from a year ago, warned of flat to lower sales for July and cut its profit forecast for the second quarter by 33% to 20 to 30 cents a share, excluding merger expenses.
Nearly two years after its $17 billion acquisition of the May Department Store Co., Macy’s is still struggling to integrate the new stores and wrestling with how to retain customers of such upscale chains as Marshall Fields even as it overhauls its merchandise strategy to target lower-end consumers.
Macy’s has previously been subjected to the leveraged buyout treatment… it resulted in a bankruptcy filing in 1990.
Personally, we hate Macy’s (and are irrationally bitchy about them) for taking away Marshall Field’s, a store with decent customer service that we actually liked… but that’s just us. Do you guys like Macy’s?
Macy’s: In the Buyout Bin? [BusinessWeek]
(Photo:Ben Popken)
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Most of the stores sell the same merchandise anyway, so the name is not that important ultimately, but the association people have with stores, the personal feeling is quite important. I feel ill toward Wal-Mart and often pay more to purchase products elsewhere. Macy’s has become very large indeed. The only way for them to increase profits is 1: Sell more stuff
2: Reduce costs
They tried #2 (no pun intended) by combining stores and reducing redundancies in their operations. If that isn’t working, the next option is simply to fire people and cut costs that way. Sad for the people who work there if that happens. I have no problem with Macy’s, probably because I had no loyalty toward Lazarus when it was bought out.
Not to mention Macy’s own store brands which are marked up beyond belief, and are 95% pure profit for the store. They are made in sweat shop conditions and make the Kathy Lee clothing company look like they treat their employee’s good!
I can hear the victory cheers of Chicago from across the lake. Eat it, Macy’s!
Something has felt “off” about Macys for a while, at least here in the D.C. area. Their stores are always somewhat unkempt and the fitting rooms are dirty. It’s not all that pleasant to shop there. It feels much more down-market than it actually is.
Also, as a woman in my early 30s, the clothes they try to market to my age group aren’t quite right. They try to do a professional spin on trendy, but they don’t quite hit the mark.
They’ve replaced Kaufmanns, a Pittsburgh institution (and Pittsburgh is defined by hese), which had better selection than most department stores, with their generic overpriced stuff. Not a fan.
It’s astonishing to me that these misguided fucknuts ever thought that the road to success was (i) alienating every loyal customer that the stores they bought ever had and then (ii) making sure that there was nothing special about what came after the name change. They never realized that outside of NY (and maybe there for all I know), the name “Macy’s” has always symbolized low end schlock. I’ll never spend a dollar in any Macy’s store on principle alone. Oh, and to the CSR who’s view is that MF wouldn’t exist? There would have been another buyer and even if not, the name change wasn’t required after the purchase. I hope KKR does buy them and rightsizes every last one of them.
All of Chicago, and indeed thousands of people across the country, will literally dance in the streets the day such a hopeful announcement is made! Last year on the day when the Tribune headline read “Field’s No More!” people were literally crying, shaking with grief and rage. Field’s was our Harrods, our pride and joy for over 150 years. Many people, deeply, viscerally, hate Federated/Lundgren/Macy’s for what they have done — not just to Marshall Field’s, but to all the historic nameplates they eliminated, like Filene’s, I. Magnin, Burdine’s, Foley’s, Rich’s, Famous Barr, etc., etc. Over 60,000 people signed an online petition, warning, pleading, begging Federated not to change the name of Marshall Field’s but they refused to listen, — claiming that Macy’s “surveys” showed no one cared about a name change! Ha! Now most Chicagoans proudly boycott Macy’s – (I have seen a few people carrying Macy’s bags openly sneered at or confronted.) People actually have bumper stickers on their cars saying “Field’s is Chicago, Boycott Macys!” About four protest rallies have already been held over the past year. Macy’s was warned publicly, even by Roger Ebert, that they would experience a consumer backlash unseen since New Coke, and that Field’s would one day be reborn. Gd-willing, by this coming Monday, Macy’s will have gone into labor.
@ahursh:
FYI, Dayton’s bought Marshall Field’s. Not the other way around.
@ExGC:
There MIGHT have been another buyer. No one knows. Even if there was another buyer theres no guarantee they would have kept the stores. Like I said, private equity firms love department store real estate.
@hyperlexis:
imo Chicago is full of a bunch of cry babies.
@Melov:
This is the first I’ve heard of it. I’m glad to know it and willing to give them a shot, but I think this illustrates the reasons they’re having problems.
I moved from Chicago last month and while there (since 2000) never understood the obsession with Marshall Fields. Before it was bought out, no one I knew shopped there, and when I did I could never find anything because of poor layout, and I didn’t find the customer service anything close to special (definitely no where near as good as Nordstrom’s).
Could one of the numerous posters here who say they wouldn’t have cared that Macy’s bought MF as long as they didn’t change the name explain this to me? It’s the same store, on the same State St. corner, with the same green clock outside and high ceiling inside. Who cares if it’s now called Macy’s. Now I get those that object to the clothing lines Macy’s replaced and other changes, but for those who said it’s only the changed name that bothers them, I just don’t get it? And I’m genuinely asking, not snarking…
@formergr: Marshall Field, the actual guy, matters to Chicago. It’s part of Chicago history and Chicagoans are really testy about their history for some reason. [en.wikipedia.org]
I used to think Macy’s was more upscale, definitely not “discount department store”! Now, I still think it’s overpriced, but without the upscale. I’ve never been asked if I needed help in a Macy’s, and it seems very Robinsons-May, but with better merchandise, now. They’re usually hard-to-navigate too (like any department store).
I have also heard that Macy’s has the slats in the dressing room doors going the opposite way (up instead of down) so the workers can see into the rooms to make sure no one’s shoplifting. And that with some rooms facing the public areas. That’s pretty low. They seem to have fallen, sort of like Sears, but on a higher level.
How badly has Macy’s screwed up MF? Why are Chicagoans (and quite a few folks in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan, I might add) making such a big deal over this? Here are but a few reasons:
1) Obnoxious “Way to shop!” slogan and Red Star of Communism.
2) Tacky red color palate instead of classic green.
3) Something called “Alfani” in place of Armani.
4) Donald Trump suits.
5) New York-centric holiday windows in ’06
6) Inability to properly spell Chicago streets on store directory
7) Macy’s execs routinely dismissing MF as “just a name”.
8) The other made-up brands, such as “INC” and “Style & Co.”
9) “Affordable Luxury” that is not particularly affordable nor particularly luxurious (see “Alfani”).
10) “Sales” that really aren’t.
11) The loss of certain store-within-store concepts such as Dolce & Gabbana boutique.
12) Mass-distribution of Frango’s to the point where I am sorry to say that I never want to see another box.
13) Failure to fix broken escalators/signage in suburban locations.
Note: For the record, I’m not a native Chicagoan. I moved to the area five years ago from DC, but came to appreciate Marshall Field’s.
@Melov: That’s what Macy’s said, but given the rabid opposition of Chicago to the name change and the historic importance of the State Street store, Macy’s could probably have ACTUAL SHOPPERS at State Street had they just called it “Marshall Field’s by Macy’s.” It was something of a special case, as they have discovered to their detriment.
Like many other Illinois shoppers, I won’t shop at Macy’s locations that used to be NOT-Field’s because I’m so pissed about Field’s.
Besides my absolute hatred for that slimeball Lundgren changing the name of Field’s, there’s the matter of that godawful Macy logo!
Will somebody explain to me why Macy’s logo is the red star of the Soviet Army?
Field’s had a classy logo, all script, Macy’s is something like Helvetica, the same typeface used for the NYC subway.
I miss the understated green of the Field’s awnings, I hate the ugly black ones that replaced them.
Lundgren dangled moving the Frango Mint production back to Chicago as a lure to get people to shop at Macy’s. But that didn’t mean it would be made on the tenth floor of the State St. store as it used to be.
It’s also obvious that someone at Federated didn’t think the name change was going to stick. The green Field’s delivery trucks haven’t been repainted with the Macy name, they just have a vinyl sheet covering each side.
Macy’s. Way to Flop!
I used to be indifferent to macy’s but now I hate it. I haven’t set foot in the store formerly known as Marshall Fields since Macy’s took it over and changed the name and will never, ever set foot in a Messy’s–I mean Macy’s– in New York or anywhere else.
Yeah, Macy’s got rid of our local Strawbridges, which I loved, and I can’t say I’m that impressed with anything I see in the existing Macy’s stores. If I want quality, I’ll order from Neiman Marcus or Nordstrom’s; otherwise, I’ll just hit Filene’s Basement.
And I hate that you can’t go in a Macy’s without getting bugged for those stupid store cards. The only store card I ever had was my beloved Dillard’s card, and I cried when I had to get rid of it up here (no Dillard’s stores north of Virginia). I was seriously attached to that store.
Still mourning the loss of Burdines departments stores in FL (bought out by Macy’s).
I worked for pre-takeover, pre-Federated Macys in the early 90s, in the buyer support offices for Macys West in San Francisco. It was fun to find out the company declared bankruptcy by having the teller at Bank of America tell me my paycheck had bounced.
I hate the way they obliterated all their regional brands like The Bon Marche, Broadway Southwest, etc.
Living in Los Angeles has made me HATE Macy’s. They are the only department store left. We had Buffums, I.Magnin, Joseph Magnin, Broadway, Bullock’s, Bullock’s Wilshire, Robinson’s, May Company, Robinsons-May. All are gone.
This is why I buy my clothes at TJ Maxx. It’s the same amount of mess as my local Macy’s, but with lower prices.
@dantc:
I’m hoping they tell us about a buyout at least before everyone else finds out…but my hopes are not high.
@laurenl842:
From December 1969 to April 1971, I had the “pleasure” of working in the 17th floor stock department of the Herald Square Macy store (the one with the parade every year).
Then (and perhaps still), New York State law said that an item had to be for sale at the higher price for 30 days before a store could advertise it as being X% off that price.
We would send a representative sample of men’s shirts down to the sales floor to sell at, say, $10 (knowing that few would sell at that for-then high price) before bringing them back up to 17 after 30 days where I would take a red pen and cross out “$10″ and write “$5″ on the tags of hundreds of them. Voila, 50% off!
It was legal, but, I thought, sleazy.
Did you know that at the Herald Square store (in NYC) they have guard dogs patrol the store at night. They keep them in cages on the upper floors. I always thought that was the coolest thing !!!
Sheesh! What do the dogs actually guard? Priceless couture in the Donald Trump Collection area? Or maybe safeguarding Alfani baubles? Good puppy! Good boy!
I greatly prefer Macy’s to my other local option, Dillard’s. Same merchandise, better sales.
@formergr: The other reason is because Chicago has always been referred to as the “Second City” by New York, So *ANYTHING* New York rarely survives in Chicago. Another reason is when Chicago Burned down, it was Mr. Field’s personal wealth that financed most of the rebuilding of Chicago. Had it not been for Mr. Field’s personal wealth, we would ended up some 3rd rate city like Denver, or Omaha. When people say they are from Chicago, it is “Chicago PERIOD” No Coma before Illinois. When Chicago was first planned, we followed NYC’s grid system, that doesn’t work well in the Midwest, So thanks to the city being burned down, We designed a proper grid system that works.
I for one am a HUGE fan of Macys! I can always find designer clothes at discounted prices. And whenever I use my Macy’s card I save even more! Wake up people! Has anyone ever shopped at Bloomingdales or Nordstroms, those stores are extremely over priced and I still dont know what their definition of SALE is! And if Macy’s is gone, all we’ll have all those over priced dept. stores. And you’ll all be complaining even more cuz you won’t have any good quality clothes.
I’ve been boycotting Macy’s since they refused to budge on my store credit card APR. It was in the mid-20′s, even though I had been “upgraded” to Gold or whatever. I called to request a reduction and explained that I had no motivation to use it if even my worst Visa charged 16%. They wouldn’t budge so I told them I’d never spend another dollar in their stores, let alone put in on their card. The account is still open and they’ve raised my limit a few times since, but my rate is still over 20% and I’m still ignoring them.
Personally, on the VERRRY rare occasion that I have to stop in a Macy’s, I still use my Marshall Field’s card, as a personal protest. Once the name change took place, I was sent a replacement charge card with the Macy*s logo, and I simply refuse to use it. I’m mostly sentimental about the State St. store (which, as a downtown Chicagoan, is the most accessible store)…the Tiffany stained glass ceiling, the Walnut Room, the (eerily) unique green lighting in the Eslalator alcove…It was a truly unique place. Not that those things are gone (save for the lighting), but they couldn’t even be bothered to replace the classic gold-lettered street signs with their crappy black and red ones correctly (they literally hung every street-identification sign over the wrong door). The brands that Macy*s has used as replacements are terrible (and terribly overpriced considering the crappy quality).
Since when was Macy’s “discount?” They’re expensive as hell.
@Nidolke: YES they are, infact almost EVERYTHING is made in CHINA……go figure.
Ever since they have infested the Greater Cleveland area, I have only this to say about them:
“FUCK MACY’S!!!”
There, I said it. No turkey for you!
I can’t afford to shop at Macy’s. I occasionally buy wedding gifts there, if the couple is registered, and one relative likes Macy gift cards. Other than that… Better places to buy housewares: Bed, Bath and Beyond; or Williams-Sonoma. Better place to buy furniture: La-Z-Boy. Better place to buy clothes: Goody’s.
Unless you sneak into Macy’s from the back side, they make you walk through the stink section (cosmetics counter). That’s my biggest complaint on them!
OMG, people have alot of angst about this topic. There’s a hundred posts here from shoppers who “hate” Macy’s for “taking away” whatever more local brand was in their city.
I hate to say this but the “local” department stores (Dayton’s, Filene’s, Marshall Fields, Burdine’s, etcetera) were just companies. One company bought another company. It was just a business and now it is just a business.
Interesting that the old local department stores had marketing, public relations, and advertising that was so GREAT that people still have an affinity to their brand, even A.D. of their company.
That’s our America. Please people, it’s sad.
@formergr: I totally agree with your point about the “if they had kept the name” crowd.
Sorry, it just seems like way too much energy spent on hating Macy’s because they have a different layout, different decorations, and different slogans. There’s alot of people who have been “boycotting” (aka not shopping) there because of some silly, arcane reason.
Ahhh, the fickle consumer…
Just use your energies on something that actually matters!
@gretch9er:
You’re a liar because your marshall field’s card won’t work. They stopped working almost an entire year ago.
Go away tool.
@Schmack:
You’re an idiot…Name 1 department store that will negotiate the APR. NONE
Macy’s APR is high, but so is everyone elses…christ
@Formergr, Chicagoans have nostalgia for Marshall Field’s as it was about 15 years ago. Field’s actually began its downward spiral after Dayton-Hudson’s bought it in the early 1990s and began its own conversion into Target. It was then when the merchandise went slightly downmarket and the return policies became more restrictive. However, after their own little PR fiasco when they tried to eliminate Field’s signature green bags, Target never again messed with any more Field’s traditions. Just before they sold Field’s, Target actually took the store a lot more upscale (winning back customers), only to see the new owners take it even further downmarket. It’s no accident Nordstrom has never had it better in Chicago.
The ironic part is that Macy’s actually has a slightly more liberal return policy than Field’s did in the Target days. All they really had to do to fix what ailed Field’s was “nothing.” Their lower operating costs alone would have made them more profitable. Instead, they took the stores further downscale in the classic attempt to extract more blood from the turnip.
Melov,
Macy’s did allow customers to continue using their “old” store cards. It was a last-minute “goodwill gesture” aimed at retaining existing cardholders.
Most stores (with the notable exception of Target) have sold their credit card accounts to one of the big banks. Therefore, they are pretty much all the same now as far as APR and terms and conditions.
Macy’s took over Foley’s in Austin, and I have been disappointed in the merchandise and the prices. Foley’s was by far superior in quality and price in my opinion. Foley’s also carried Valerie Steven’s which was a Foley’s brand that was nice quality that was reasonably priced. Since Foley’s is gone I now only have Dillard’s to shop at for moderately priced items.
Fabulous news article on Macy’s and its possible fate (i.e. failure) here in Chicago:
[abclocal.go.com]
ughhhh sorry its not doing the whole link – just remove the spaces. It’s from WLS TV here in Chicago. = h t t p :/ / a b c l ocal. go. com / wls /story?section = local &id=5511343
People bag on Macy’s but as a native of the Bay Area, Macy’s all through the 80′s and 90′s and up through 2001 or until Lundgren took over was a sharp store. Macy’s was a mid priced to very high end store. I could buy something moderate like a pair of Levis or something costly like an Armani dress, it was all there. The stores were very neat and elegant. What Bloomingdales is now Macy’s was then. The cancer started when Lundgren tried to dumb it down and go after the Kohl’s/Penney’s/Mervyens customer. That customer isn’t going to spend $77.00 on a man’s shirt with a private store label when you can get a similar shirt at Target for $19.99 or at Kohl’s. The traditional Macy/Field’s customer has moved on. So who is their customer then?? The stores by me are dumps, that are in sad need of renovation what you see is burned out lighting, stained walls, clothes strewn all over the floor, worn out carpets with stains, that looked like they haven’t been vacumed in ages with electrical tape in places, clutter everywhere yet the prices are way up there. There is this don’t care attitude also all the cool brands are gone and replaced with the overpriced designer knockoff store brands. Say what you want about Field’s but Field’s never sunk as low as Macy’s is now. People don’t realize how good they have it until it’s gone. As someone who has known Macy’s all their life I honestly can’t see how Macy’s can ever be defended as being better than Field’s. Macy’s circa 1990 was very sharp…now? Don’t make me laugh!
Although the name change to Macy’s from the Marshall Field brand was a significant problem to Chicago, those of us in Detroit took it in stride. I have shopped at Marshall Fields for years when visiting Chicago 20 plus times a year and during the early Target ownership, Fields State Street and Water Tower continued to carry above average goods and designers that got the ax in Detroit at then JL Hudsons. When Target decided to rename Daytons and Hudsons to the Fields name plate, the merchandise lines actually improved dramatically.
My arguement with Macy’s and Lundgren is the dumbing down of Fields merchandise. Polo for men and little else remains. At the very upscale Somerset Mall in Troy Mi, Joseph Abboud just hit the 75% off racks and will not be carried for the fall lines.
I swear someone at Macy’s stays up at night thinking up ways to destroy business by dropping good labels/brands. There IS a diffence in Waterford made in Ireland and Waterford made in the former Soviet satellites. There IS a difference between Armani and Alfani! With business at the converted Fields stores down 30 percent plus, you can’t blame it on
What Macy’s ill fated “Macy’s Way to Shop” kick off campaign told me was they don’t want my business any more!
Macy’s being bought out won’t bring back my beloved Meier and Frank.
But it will feel really really good.
No matter how bad Macy’s is, Dillard’s is worse. Takeovers like these are really real estate transactions. The only things department stores really make money from are shoes, cosmetics and real estate.
Seems MF would not have needed the money to sell out if all you complainers would have spent some money there. The store doesn’t exist for a reason. They were broke.