Macy's, Inc. (originally Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American conglomerate holding company. Upon its establishment, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains

Abraham & Straus Abraham & Straus, commonly shortened to A&S, was a major New York City department store, based in Brooklyn. Founded in 1865, it became part of Federated Department Stores in 1929. Shortly after Federated's 1994 acquisition of R.H. Macy & Company ...

, Lazarus, Filene's, and

Shillito's John Shillito & Co. (commonly known as Shillito's) was Cincinnati, Cincinnati's first department store. In 1817 John Shillito (November 1808-September 1879) arrived in Cincinnati (from Greensburg, Pennsylvania). The nine-year-old lad was soon wor ...

Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain; it was founded in New York City by Joseph B. and Lyman G. Bloomingdale in 1861. A third brother, Emanuel Watson Bloomingdale, was also involved in the business. It became a div ...

joined Federated Department Stores the following year. Throughout its early history, frequent acquisitions and divestitures saw the company operate a number of nameplates. In 1994, Federated took over the department store chain

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wit ...

. With the acquisition of The May Department Stores Company in 2005, the regional nameplates were retired and replaced by the Macy's and Bloomingdale's brands nationwide by 2006. Ultimately, Federated itself was renamed Macy's, Inc. in 2007. Macy's, Inc., has been headquartered within Macy's Herald Square in New York City since 2020; beforehand, its headquarters was in Cincinnati, Ohio. While Federated had a long history of preserving brand identities in each of their markets since its inception in 1929, it universally applied the Macy's name to most their department store chains in 2006. It operates the subsidiaries Macy's, Bloomingdale's, and the beauty store chain

Bluemercury Bluemercury is a chain of American beauty stores founded in 1999 by Marla Malcolm Beck and Barry Beck in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. The stores sell cosmetics, as well as in-store facials and spa treatments. In addition to selling products from o ...

, all of which have a

flagship store A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

located in the New York City borough of Manhattan. As of October 29, 2022, the company operated 722 locations (783 boxes, including 540 full-line boxes) in the United States, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Its namesake locations and related operations account for 90% of its revenue. According to Deloitte, Macy's, Inc. is the world's largest fashion goods retailer and the 36th largest retailer overall, based on the company's reported 2010 retail sales revenue of $25 billion (equivalent to $ in ).

Operations as Federated

Early history

Federated Department Stores traces its corporate lineage to F&R Lazarus & Company, founded in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and ...

, in 1851. In the summer of 1929, months before the Wall Street Crash of 1929,

Fred Lazarus Jr. Fred R. Lazarus Jr. (October 29, 1884 – May 27, 1973) was an American founder of Federated Department Stores, which became Macy's, Inc. Early life Fred Lazarus Jr. was born to a Jewish family on October 29, 1884, the son of Rose (née Eichberg) ...

met with Walter N. Rothschild from

of Brooklyn and Edward Filene from Filene's of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...

on Rothschild's yacht in Long Island Sound. The three businessmen agreed to merge their stores and form Federated Department Stores, as a department store holding company for F&R Lazarus & Company (including its Cincinnati division, then known as

, and William Filene's Sons of Boston. In 1930, Bloomingdale Brothers of New York joined. In the mid-1930s, a modern merchandising standard was set when

arranged garments in groups of a single size with a range of style, color and price, basing the technique upon observations made in Paris. As well, Lazarus convinced President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As th ...

that it would help American economy to change the Thanksgiving holiday from the last Thursday of November to the fourth Thursday, thus extending the Christmas shopping season. An act of Congress perpetuated the arrangement in 1941. Black Friday became a nationwide sensation and the most profitable day for Federated. (Robert Lazarus Jr. worked at Federated until he died in 2013, the last remaining family member with an official role at the company.) In 1945, Federated moved its corporate offices to Cincinnati. The latter half of the 20th century saw the company expand nationwide, adding Rike Kumler of Dayton, Ohio (merged into

in the 1980s to become Shillito-Rike's);

Burdines Burdines (} ) was an American chain of department stores operating in the state of Florida, headquartered in Miami. The original store opened in Bartow, Florida in 1896 as a carriage-trade shop. Over its nearly 110-year history, Burdines grew in ...

of Miami, Florida; Rich's of Atlanta, Georgia;

Foley's Foley's was a chain of department stores owned by May Department Stores and headquartered in Downtown Houston, Texas. On August 30, 2005, the division was dissolved and operation of the stores was assumed by Federated's Macy's West and Macy's ...

of Houston, Texas;

Sanger Brothers Sanger may refer to: Places Romania * Sânger, a commune in Mureș County United States * Sanger, California, a city * Sanger, North Dakota, a ghost town * Sanger, Texas, a city * Sanger, West Virginia, an unincorporated community People * San ...

and A. Harris, both of Dallas, Texas (which were merged to form Sanger-Harris); Boston Store of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; MainStreet of Chicago, Illinois;

Bullock's Bullock's was a chain of full-line department stores from 1907 through 1995, headquartered in Los Angeles, growing to operate across California, Arizona and Nevada. Bullock's also operated as many as seven more upscale Bullocks Wilshire special ...

, of Los Angeles;

I. Magnin I. Magnin & Company was a San Francisco, California-based high fashion and specialty goods luxury department store. Over the course of its existence, it expanded across the West into Southern California and the adjoining states of Arizona, Oregon ...

, of San Francisco, California;

Gold Circle Gold Circle was a discount department store chain based in Ohio. Founded in 1967, it was a division of Federated Department Stores with 76 stores when the chain was sold and dismantled in 1988. History Covering mostly New York, Ohio, Kentucky a ...

; and

Richway Richway was the discount department store division of Atlanta-based Rich's. It was originally part of Rich's, and was later bought by Federated Department Stores when they purchased the Rich's chain. It was originally known as Richway, a Rich' ...

Discount Department Stores of Worthington, Ohio. Federated entered the supermarket industry in 1968 when it acquired the

Ralphs Ralphs is an American supermarket chain in Southern California. The largest subsidiary of Cincinnati-based Kroger, it is the oldest such chain west of the Mississippi River. Kroger also operates stores under the Food 4 Less and Foods Co. n ...

chain based in Southern California. In 1982, Federated acquired the Twin Fair, Inc. discount store chain based in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Southe ...

, and merged it with Gold Circle. In 1983, Federated sold four shopping center properties to

JMB Realty JMB Realty was a real estate investment company based in Chicago. In 1993, after suffering during the early 1990s recession, the company spun off its retail properties as Urban Shopping Centers, Inc., which was acquired by Rodamco in 2000 and bro ...

Takeover by Robert Campeau

Canadian real estate developer

Robert Campeau Robert Joseph Antoine Campeau (August 3, 1923 June 12, 2017) was a Canadian financier and real estate developer. Starting from a single house constructed in 1940 in the Alta Vista neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario, Campeau built a large land dev ...

– who had taken over and dismembered

Allied Stores Allied Stores was a department store chain in the United States. It was founded in the 1930s as part of a general consolidation in the retail sector by B. E. Puckett. See also Associated Dry Goods. It was the successor to Hahn's Department Stores ...

in 1986 – attempted to take over Federated starting in early 1988 which Federated fought off in a high-profile battle, with Macy's (at that time not part of Federated, but a rival), also submitting competitive bids of over $6 billion. Nonetheless, in April 1988, Federated gave in and agreed to a $6.6 billion takeover by Campeau. It was the largest merger in corporate history, barring the oil sector. Macy's paid Campeau $1.1 billion to acquire the 20-store

/ Bullocks Wilshire and the 25-store specialty apparel chain

. Two years later, Federated filed for bankruptcy after Campeau failed to refinance the debt of Federated and Allied Stores Corp. In 1992, Campeau was ousted and Federated emerged from bankruptcy as a new public company. As part of the reorganization, Federated sold the Ralphs chain to a group of owners led by Edward J. DeBartolo Corporation.

Acquisition of Macy's

Also in 1992, Macy's declared bankruptcy; Federated acquired it two years later, in 1994. The name of the once-main-rival of Federated, Macy's, would soon become the consumer-facing identity of most of Federated's stores. In 1995 Federated bought Broadway Stores, Inc. and its California-based

Emporium-Capwell The Emporium, from 1980 to 1995 Emporium-Capwell, was a mid-line department store chain headquartered in San Francisco, California, which operated for 100 years—from 1896 to 1996. The flagship location on San Francisco's Market Street was a de ...

Weinstock's Weinstock's, originally Weinstock, Lubin, and Co., was an American department store chain headquartered in Sacramento, California. It was founded by Harris Weinstock and his half-brother, David Lubin. The chain was purchased by Hale's in 1949, ...

and The Broadway chains. Macy's changed the nameplate of these three chains and Bullock's to Macy's, or in some cases, turned locations into Bloomingdales. In 2003, Federated changed the nameplates of almost all their remaining non-Macy's stores – the lone exception was Bloomingdales – to include the Macy's name, a rebranding internally dubbed Project Hyphen. For example, Seattle-based

The Bon Marché The Bon Marché, whose French name translates to "the good market" or "the good deal", was a department store chain launched in Seattle, Washington, United States, in 1890 by Edward Nordhoff. The name was influenced by Le Bon Marché, the not ...

became Bon-Macy's; Goldsmith's in Tennessee became Goldsmith's-Macy's; Lazarus, Burdines, and Rich's also added "-Macy's" to their name. A year later, the hyphenated names were changed to simply Macy's, a rebranding process referred internally to as Project Star. The department store chain

Stern's Stern's (originally Stern Brothers) was a regional department store chain serving the U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The chain was in business for more than 130 years. In 2001, Stern's parent company Federated Depart ...

, a division of Federated, ceased operations in 2001 and most of its stores became Macy's stores. Federated began selling goods online in 1998, rather later than most contemporary large retailers; Federated ran a private bank, FDS Bank, which issued and maintained the majority of its own consumer credit card portfolio, was one of the last credit card banks to begin to allow its cardholders to access account information online (around 2004). In 1998, Federated settled an SEC investigation for $14.46 million (equivalent to $ in ) due to unethical debt-collection practices. Federated routinely forced credit card holders/debtors to sign an agreement that legally bound them to repay their outstanding balances instead of having the unsecured debt discharge via the filing of

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debto ...

. Federated failed to file reaffirmation agreements with bankruptcy courts. As a result, the changes in the agreements were not legally binding. In 2001 Federated acquired Liberty House of Hawaii as it emerged from

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

. It was managed as part of Macy's West and all the store names were changed to Macy's. In 2005, Federated agreed to sell its credit card business to

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi ( stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomera ...

Acquisition of May

On February 28, 2005, Federated Department Stores announced that it would acquire May Department Stores company for $11 billion (equivalent to $ in ) in cash and stock. Also part of the buyout was the bridal and formal unit of May, consisting of David's Bridal and After Hours Formalwear. Federated would also assume $6 billion (equivalent to $ in ) of May's debt, bringing total consideration to $17 billion (equivalent to $ in ). The deal would create the nation's largest department store chain with over 1,000 stores and $30 billion (equivalent to $ in ) in annual sales. To help finance the deal, Federated agreed to sell its combined proprietary credit card business (but still administered by FACS Group, a subsidiary of Federated) to Citigroup. The merger was completed on August 30, 2005, after an assurance agreement was reached with the Attorneys General of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * ...

, California, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. As a result of the merger, Federated also in the process reacquired two of their former department store chains Foley's & Filene's (Which Federated originally sold to May Company), putting them back under the Federated Department Stores corporate umbrella for the first time since 1988. Federated announced plans to sell 80 store locations in 2006, having pledged in its settlement to sell most of them as viable businesses, with preference being given to a group of thirteen competitors. This number could fluctuate pursuant to Federated's negotiations with various mall landlords and its final decision regarding using former Macy locations for its luxury

operation. On January 12, 2006, Federated announced its plans to divest May Company's Lord & Taylor division (48 stores in 12 states) by the end of 2006 after utilizing prime and conflicting real estate by closing and converting several locations. On June 22, 2006, Macy's announced that NRDC Equity Partners, LLC would purchase Lord & Taylor for US$1.2 billion (equivalent to $ in ), and completed the sale in October 2006. On September 9, 2006, the former May Company store names Famous-Barr, Filene's,

, Hecht's,

The Jones Store The Jones Store Company was an American chain of department stores located in the Kansas City area formerly operated by Mercantile Stores Company and the St. Louis, Missouri-based May Co. History The Jones Store Company was founded in 1887 as an ...

, Kaufmann's, L. S. Ayres, Marshall Field's,

Meier & Frank Meier & Frank was a prominent chain of department stores founded in Portland, Oregon, and later bought by The May Department Stores Company. Meier & Frank operated in the Pacific Northwest from 1857 to 2006. History Summary Meier & Frank was f ...

Robinsons-May Robinsons-May was a chain of department stores operating in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada, from 1993 until 2006. It was created when May Department Stores combined two of its chains, May Company California and J. W. Robinson's chains. ...

, and Strawbridge's disappeared as Federated switched most of them to the

masthead and a few to the Bloomingdale's name. The conversion of Marshall Field's in Chicago was particularly criticized, with many customers boycotting its historic State Street flagship store. The Chicago Tribune continues to report on the poor reception of Macy's in Chicago. Pittsburgh customers also strongly resisted the name change from Kaufmann's, in part because of the Kaufmann family role in Pittsburgh history, as well as the central store's Christmas windows and holiday parade. One of the consequences of this rebranding is that several malls have two Macy's stores. In downtown Boston, Federated liquidated an acquired Filene's because it already had a Macy's (formerly a Jordan Marsh) across the street. The two stores have a combined floorspace of more than , more than two-thirds the size of Macy's New York City flagship store. On November 17, 2006, the bridal and formal unit was sold. David's Bridal and Priscilla of Boston were sold to

Leonard Green & Partners Leonard Green & Partners ("LGP") is an American private equity investment firm founded in 1989 and based in Los Angeles. The firm specializes in private equity investments. LGP has invested in over 95 companies since its inception, including Petc ...

. After Hours Formalwear was sold to

Men's Wearhouse Tailored Brands, Inc. is an American retail holding company for various men's apparel stores, including the Men's Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank brands. The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas, with additional corporate offices in Fremont, ...

Operations as Macy's, Inc.

On February 27, 2007, Federated announced that its board of directors would ask shareholders to change the company's name to Macy's Group, Inc. By March 28, the company revised its plans for the new name, opting to eventually become Macy's, Inc. Federated shareholders approved the revised proposal during the company's annual meeting on May 18, 2007. The company was previously known as Federated Retail Holdings, Inc. The name took effect on June 1, 2007. Reasoning for the proposed name change—according to Terry Lundgren, Federated's chairman, president and chief executive officer—hinges on the large-scale conversions throughout the company toward the Macy's nameplate. "Today, we are a brand-driven company focused on Macy's and Bloomingdale's, not a federation of department stores," Lundgren said in the company's press release heralding the proposed name. Upon the change to Macy's Inc., Federated's stock ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange changed from "FD" to "M", making the new Macy's Inc. one of a handful of single-letter

ticker symbol A ticker symbol or stock symbol is an abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock on a particular stock market. In short, ticker symbols are arrangements of symbols or characters (generally Latin letters o ...

companies. In April, 2008, Moody's Investors Service said that it may downgrade Macy's Inc. bonds to just above junk status. That same month, Fitch Ratings downgraded their bond credit rating to BBB− from BBB, noting a deterioration in the company's operating and credit metrics. A rating of BBB− is one notch above junk status. The domain ''macysinc.com'' attracted at least 3 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a

Compete.com Compete.com was a web traffic analysis service. The company was founded in 2000 and ceased operations in December 2016. Services Compete.com provided two categories of information: *Site Analytics : a free service, where the user can enter any ...

survey. On Wednesday, February 6, 2008, Terry Lundgren announced the localization strategy and the company's plan to shed 2,550 jobs. This new localization strategy is known as "My Macy's." Employees of the Macy's North headquarters office in Minneapolis, the Macy's Northwest headquarters office in Seattle, and the Macy's Midwest headquarters office in St. Louis were given pink slips, as Macy's pared its seven regional centers to four. About 40 new jobs were to be created in May as part of the restructuring. By 2009, the company expected to save $100 million (equivalent to $ in ) a year from the cuts. On February 2, 2009, Macy's announced the elimination of 7,000 jobs, or 4% of its work force, and slashed its dividend as it looked to lower expenses as part of major restructuring. Cincinnati-based Macy's Inc. said the work force reduction includes positions in offices, stores and other locations. The cuts will include some unfilled jobs. "Reducing our workforce is an unfortunate outcome of the current economic environment, and I am frustrated that so many of our people will be unable to move forward with us as we proceed into a very exciting future for Macy's and Bloomingdale's" said Terry J. Lundgren, chairman, president and chief executive officer. " Macy's also got rid of its division structure and integrated its functions into one organization. Macy's central buying, merchandise planning, stores senior management and marketing functions merged to its New York City corporate office (formerly

Macy's East Macy's East, New York City, New York was a division of Macy's, Inc. It was the operating successor to the original R.H. Macy & Co., Inc. and operates the Macy's department stores in the northeast U.S. and Puerto Rico. Over the years it has been ...

). Corporate-related business functions, such as finance and human resources, will be primarily in Cincinnati. To buy with local consumers in mind, Macy's developed a concept called "My Macy's", in which the buyers and planners all look at what the local consumer base is looking for in their local Macy's store. This will help bring a better sense of branding, sizing, and marketing to each Macy's store nationwide. Macy's Inc. decided to close the Bloomingdale's at the Mall of America in Minnesota. Since 1994, Bloomingdale's had been one of the 4 anchor stores of the mall, and will be replaced with a $30 million renovation with four new foreign clothing stores. On October 14, 2013, Macy's Inc. announced the decision to open most of their stores for the first time on

Thanksgiving Day Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...

2013, breaking a long-standing tradition of 155 years, and joined the ranks of retailers who created Gray Thursday the year before. Its doors opened at 8 p.m. (local time) on the holiday evening, and remained open for 24 hours straight until the close of business on Friday, which is usually about 10 p.m. , Macy's Inc. is valued at US$28 billion. In September 2015, Macy's announced it would close 40 stores, 5% of its total stores in early 2016. It also announced plans to open 6 additional

Macy's Backstage Macy's, Inc. (originally Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American conglomerate holding company. Upon its establishment, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Filene's, and Shillito ...

locations. From 2010 to 2015, Macy's had closed 52 stores and opened 12. In February 2020, Macy's announced that their headquarters in downtown Cincinnati will be closing in the near future with all corporate operations relocating to New York City. This news came after a gradual pulling out of the Cincinnati area with a couple of area store closures and the retirement of a top executive. In November 2021, Macy's announced the launch of its digital marketplace, which set to debut in the second half of 2022. Macy's will partner with

AlixPartners AlixPartners is a financial advisory and global consulting firm best known for its work in the turnaround space.Merx, Katie. "Thinking Big Thoughts." ''Crain's Detroit Business'' 19.36 (2003): 18. ''Regional Business News.'' Web. 29 May 2013. J ...

and

Mirakl Mirakl is a French cloud-based e-commerce software company jointly headquartered in Paris, France and Somerville, Massachusetts. It provides online marketplace software to retailers, manufacturers and wholesalers. History Co-founders Philippe ...

Finances

Nameplates

Current

Former

References

External links

{{Authority control 1929 establishments in Ohio Clothing retailers of the United States Companies based in New York City Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Holding companies of the United States Holding companies based in New York City Private equity portfolio companies Publicly traded companies based in New York City Retail companies established in 1929 Retail companies based in New York City Retail companies of the United States