Macy’s Department Store
BY LORRAINE BERTAN,
CULTURAL AFFAIRS
The pandemic and the internet
have taken a toll on famous
department stores, most notably
Lord & Taylor, but it appears
that Macy’s may be a survivor.
Macy’s has three stores on Long
Island and several throughout the
metropolitan area. Macy’s owns
680 stores under its own brand
name and Bloomingdale’s. Macy’s
January 30, 2021 fiscal year-end report
showed considerable improvement,
including income received
from sales of closed stores. New
sales innovations like eliminating
coupons and providing discounts
at point-of-sale have enhanced
consumer spending and allowing
more time for returns has improved
shopping, both online and in-store.
During its early history, Macy’s was
an innovative retailer, employing
new techniques to lure and retain
customers.
Rowland Hussey Macy worked on
a whaling ship until he was 19 years
old and acquired a star tattoo, the
Macy logo. He opened several dry
goods stores in Boston which were
unsuccessful. He moved to New
York City and opened a dry goods
store on 14th Street and 6th Avenue
in New York City in 1851. This store
was extremely successful since it
employed new business techniques
which included set prices and cash,
no bargaining, and full refunds for
returns, unusual for the times. He
used newspapers to advertise items
and prices.
He added new categories of merchandise
and expanded the store to
11 buildings in the area, creating the
modern department store. Tailoring
and made-to-measure clothes were
available in the store, providing
convenience for the customer. He
introduced new products to the
store, the tea bag and colorful bath
towels, creating a demand for several
sets of bath towels. In 1860 a liquor
license was acquired and beverages
were served in store restaurants. A
Wine and Liquor retail department
followed. In 1862 the in-store Santa
became a holiday feature and in
1864 elaborately decorated windows
were introduced, and the term ”window
shopping” became part of the
vocabulary.
Other department stores followed
the Macy lead, but Macy
bested them all when it introduced
the Thanksgiving Day Parade
on November 27, 1924. In 1924
Macy’s completed a renovation in
the Herald Square store which made
it the largest department store in
the world. The annual May Flower
Show was introduced in California
in 1964. The 4th of July Fireworks
and Entertainment first appeared
in 1958.
R. H. Macy died in 1877, and the
Macy family continued to operate
the store until 1896, when the
Straus family acquired it. The Straus
family was Jewish and originated
in Bavaria. The patriarch, Lazarus
Straus, emigrated to American in
1852, settling in Talbotton, Georgia,
and was later joined by his wife and
three sons, Isidor, Nathan and Oscar
Solomon. The family had a mercantile
business in Talbotton which
expanded during the Civil War, but
the family moved to New York after
the town was destroyed at the end
of the war.
The Straus family opened a china
and glassware concession in the
basement of Macy’s 14th Street store
in 1873. They became part owners in
1888, and in 1896 became the sole
owners of R. H. Macy. Isidor and
Nathan Straus led Macy’s into the
era of the great department stores of
the twentieth century, and in 1901
the brothers bought twenty-two
pieces of property on the west side
of Broadway between 34th and
35th Streets, Herald Square. The
Pennsylvania Railroad planned to
build a tunnel connecting Manhattan,
Long Island and New Jersey in that
area, and the subway system would
be expanded. An underground terminus
(Penn Station) for the various
transport systems would be located
in Herald Square. The Herald Square
store opened in 1902, making it
the largest department store in the
United States, and the building was
landmarked in 1978.
Isidor and Nathan Straus were
generous and considerate employers
who provided health care for
their employees and had a nurse
and doctor on the premises. They
provided low cost lunches, picnics
and turkeys for Thanksgiving. The
brothers were philanthropists,
establishing the Settlement House
for immigrants in New York City,
Montefiore Hospital, and made
major contributions to Israel.
Isidor served a term in Congress.
He and his wife died on the Titanic
in 1912, his wife refusing to leave
him despite calls for women to evacuate.
In 1986 a leveraged buy-out
ended the Straus business culture
of Macy’s.
The first Macy’s store on 14th Street and 6th Avenue
Macy Cash and Return Policy
Brothers Isidor and Nathan Straus
36 NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER ¢ June 2021