Macy's

Type: Private (Subsidiary of Macy's, Inc.)
Founded: 1858
Headquarters: New York, New York, USA
Key people: Clarence Cazalot, Jr., President & CEO
Industry: Retail
Products: Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares.
Website: www.macys.com

General Information

Macy's is a chain of mid-range American department stores. Its flagship store in Herald Square, New York City has been billed as the 'world's largest store' since 1924, although today it ties with London's Harrods in vastness of selling space. The company has designated additional regional flagships in major urban centers and operates a total of 810 U.S. stores (as of September 2008).The company produces the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, a well known parade which has been held on the streets of New York City annually since 1924. The company also sponsors the city's annual Fourth of July fireworks display, which began in 1976.

History

Macy's was founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy, a Quaker businessman. On the company's first day of business which was October 28, 1858 the sales totaled $11.06. Macy had established a dry goods store in downtown Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1851 that initially served the whaling community there. Macy moved to New York City and established a new store named 'R. H. Macy & Company' on the corner of 14th Street and 6th Avenue, later expanding to 18th Street and Broadway, on the 'Ladies' Mile', the 19th century elite shopping district, where it remained for nearly forty years.In 1875, Macy took on two partners: Robert M. Valentine; and Abiel T. La Forge, and Macy died just two years later in 1877.In 1893, R. H. Macy & Co. was acquired by Isidor Straus and his brother, Nathan Straus, who had previously held a license to sell china and other goods in the Macy's store. In 1902, the flagship store moved uptown to Herald Square at 34th Street and Broadway. Although the Herald Square store initially consisted of just one building, it expanded through new construction, eventually occupying almost the entire block bounded by 7th Avenue on the west, Broadway on the east, 34th Street on the south and 35th Street on the north. Exceptions are the small, pre-existing building on the corner of 34th and Broadway, which carries Macy's famous shopping bag sign under an agreement allowing the Macy's sign, and small pre-existing building on the corner of 35th and 7th.The original Broadway R. H. Macy and Company Store (building), was built in 1901–02 by architects De Lemos & Cordes. It is sheathed in a Palladian façade, but has been updated in many details. Other additions to the west were added in 1924, 1928, and 1931, all designed by architect Robert D. Kohn. They are all in the Art Deco style. The building has been designated a National Historic Landmark. It boasts one of the few wooden escalators still in operation.The problem of a pre-existing building also presented itself when Macys built a store on Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst, Queens, New York. This resulted in an architecturally unique round department store on 90 percent of the lot, with a small privately owned house on the corner.