Macy's West
Encyclopedia
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
-based department store chain's earliest notable acquisitions and westward expansions. Headquartered in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, this particular group of Macy's store locations included 258 sites by February 2, 2009, when the company announced plans to consolidate all Macy's divisions into a single division based in New York. The consolidation became effective during the second quarter of 2009.
The division contained locations in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
, Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, western Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, Washington, and Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, incorporating a mix of acquired chains and newly-built stores. When it was consolidated, Macy's West was headed by Chairman Jeffrey Gennette, President Robert B. Harrison, and Vice Chairman and Director of Stores Rudolph J. Borneo. As of February 2, 2009, the total gross square feet of the Macy's West stores totaled 40.331 million, employing 46,700 individuals.
History
Macy's West was established in San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
in 1866 as O'Connor, Moffat, Kean Co. at Second & Market Streets, eventually moving into several buildings on south Post Street, between Grant Avenue and Kearny Street, where it rebuilt after surviving the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was a major earthquake that struck San Francisco, California, and the coast of Northern California at 5:12 a.m. on Wednesday, April 18, 1906. The most widely accepted estimate for the magnitude of the earthquake is a moment magnitude of 7.9; however, other...
. In 1928, the company, by then known as O'Connor, Moffat & Co., commissioned a new location at 101 Stockton Street. R.H. Macy & Company
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
, New York, New York acquired O'Connor Moffat in 1945 and on October 16, 1947 renamed the store Macy's San Francisco. Macy's followed up with a major expansion of the store at 170 O'Farrell Street in 1948, using the original architect of the 1928 building, Louis Parson Hobarthttp://www.sfhistoryencyclopedia.com/articles/h/hobartLewis.html.
Macy's Northern California
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
expansion began in 1952 when it purchased a small San Rafael based department store named Alberts. Alberts had a location on fourth street in downtown San Rafael, and another in Richmond. Both of these were relatively small in size and did not carry a full line of merchandise. In 1954 Macy's built its first full-line Northern California
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
branch at Hillsdale Shopping Center
Hillsdale Shopping Center
Hillsdale Shopping Center is a shopping mall in San Mateo, California, currently anchored by Macy's, Nordstrom and Sears, and featuring over 130 stores and restaurants...
in San Mateo, California
San Mateo, California
San Mateo is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of approximately 100,000 , it is one of the larger suburbs on the San Francisco Peninsula, located between Burlingame to the north, Foster City to the east, Belmont to the south,...
. After that, the company expanded throughout Northern California
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
, primarily the San Francisco Bay Area, but also opening stores in Sacramento, Fresno, Stockton and Modesto in the 1960s and 1970s. Along the way, the newly renamed Macy's California ventured into shopping center development with Valley Fair
Westfield Valley Fair
Westfield Valley Fair, formerly known as Valley Fair and Westfield Shoppingtown Valley Fair is an upscale in-door shopping mall owned by the Westfield Group, located at the corner of Winchester and Stevens Creek Boulevards, straddling the border of San Jose and Santa Clara, California, United...
in San Jose and Bayfair in San Leandro. In 1971, the San Francisco store pioneered the cellar
The Cellar
the cellar is the marketing theme or concept for the group of departments that are commonly located on the first floor below ground level at the larger Macy's department store locations. Although every Macy's has such a department, only the larger flagships actually have basement-level space...
(always in lowercase) as the marketing concept for its housewares department, which was (and still is) in the basement. The brand has spread to all housewares departments at all Macy's stores, although not all such stores actually have a basement in which the department can be physically sited.
In 1978, Macy's expanded into Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
with a new store in Reno, Nevada
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
. In 1984, four complementary locations were acquired from Liberty House
Liberty House
Liberty House, headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, was a department store and specialty store chain with locations throughout the Hawaiian Islands and on Guam, as well as several locations on the mainland U.S.-History:...
, including Liberty House's own O'Farrell & Stockton flagship built in 1974, which eventually became Macy's Men's Store.
I. Magnin/Bullock's acquisition
In 1986 R.H. MacyMacy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
's management team led a buyout of the company. Concurrently, Macy's California began to seek locations in Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
. These plans were put on hold after Macy's purchased the Bullock's
Bullock's
Bullock's was a department store based in Los Angeles, California. The company operated full-line department stores all across California, with some stores in Arizona and Nevada. Bullock's also operated the more upscale Bullocks Wilshire in parts of Southern California.- History :Bullock's was...
, Bullocks Wilshire
Bullocks Wilshire
Bullocks Wilshire, located at 3050 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, is a 230,000-square foot Art Deco building.-Design:...
and I. Magnin
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, and Washington...
organizations from Campeau Corp.
Robert Campeau
Robert Campeau is a Canadian financier and real estate developer.-Early years:His formal education ended in grade eight, at the age of 14. He talked himself into jobs at Inco as a general labourer, carpenter and machinist. In 1949 he entered the residential end of the construction business...
in 1988. Campeau had bested Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
own attempted acquisition of Federated Department Stores
Federated Department Stores
Macy's, Inc. is a department store holding company and owner of Macy's and Bloomingdale's department stores. Macy's Inc.'s stores specialize mostly in retail clothing, jewelery, watches, dinnerware, and furniture....
and sold these California divisions to Macy's as part of their settlement.
I. Magnin, whose San Francisco flagship adjoined Macy's, was consolidated with Bullocks Wilshire to form an autonomous specialty-department store subdivision under Macy's California. Many of I. Magnin's smaller, dated locations were shuttered and in 1989 the Bullocks Wilshire stores assumed the I. Magnin name. In a test case, the I. Magnin at South Coast Plaza
South Coast Plaza
South Coast Plaza is an upscale-luxury shopping center in Costa Mesa, California, USA, in Orange County. The largest mall in California, its sales of over 1.5 billion are highest in the United States...
in Costa Mesa, California was converted to a stand-alone Bullock's Men's store in 1991.
The traditional Bullock's department stores were operated initially as part of the new Macy's South/Bullock's division based in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, but in late 1991 R.H. Macy announced plans to re-aligned its divisional structure and create a new Macy's West/Bullock's in 1992.
On January 27, 1992 R.H. Macy & Co.
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
declared bankruptcy. During the next two years, as Macy's reorganized, the Macy's West division continued to expand, opening a location at Mall of America
Mall of America
The Mall of America, also called MOA and the Megamall, is a shopping mall located in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of the Twin Cities, in the United States. It is located southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway 77, north of the Minnesota River and is across the...
in late 1992, in addition to assuming the management of the Bullock's stores and the Macy's locations in Texas. Bullock's closed locations in Lakewood, La Mesa and Santa Ana, California at this time, while the I. Magnin group shuttered eleven more stores of its dwindling franchise. The historic Bullocks Wilshire
Bullocks Wilshire
Bullocks Wilshire, located at 3050 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, is a 230,000-square foot Art Deco building.-Design:...
store closed in early 1993.
Federated Department Stores merger
In 1994 Federated Department Stores reached agreement with R.H. Macy'sMacy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
creditors to buy the company out of bankruptcy court, completing the acquisition in December 1994 and making Macy's West/Bullock's a division of Federated. Even before the acquisition closed, Federated announced the closure of the remaining I. Magnin stores, eventually selling four stores to Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue is a luxury American specialty store owned and operated by Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises , a subsidiary of Saks Incorporated. It competes in the high-end specialty store market in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, i.e. 'the 3 B's' Bergdorf, Barneys, Bloomingdale's and Lord & Taylor...
and converting six former I. Magnin locations in Palo Alto, Walnut Creek, Woodland Hills, Palm Desert, Newport Beach and Palos Verdes to specialty Macy's or Bullock's locations. The upper floors of the former I. Magnin store on Union Square were later converted to an expansion of Macy's West own adjoining flagship. Federated also shuttered the sole remaining Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
Bullock's store in Scottsdale
Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
at Camelview Shopping Center in early 1995.
Broadway Stores merger
In late summer 1995, Federated reached an agreement with Broadway Stores, Inc.'sCarter Hawley Hale Stores
Broadway Stores, Inc. was an American retailer based in Southern California. Known through its history as Carter Hawley Hale Stores and Broadway Hale Stores over time, it acquired other retail store chains in regions outside its California home base and became in certain retail sectors a regional...
controlling-shareholder, Chicago-based financier Sam Zell, to buy that company. Broadway Stores was the post-bankruptcy successor of Carter Hawley Hale Stores
Carter Hawley Hale Stores
Broadway Stores, Inc. was an American retailer based in Southern California. Known through its history as Carter Hawley Hale Stores and Broadway Hale Stores over time, it acquired other retail store chains in regions outside its California home base and became in certain retail sectors a regional...
, a Los Angeles-headquartered company that at one time owned Neiman Marcus
Neiman Marcus
Neiman Marcus, formerly Neiman-Marcus, is a luxury specialty retail department store operated by the Neiman Marcus Group in the United States. The company is headquartered in the One Marcus Square building in Downtown Dallas, Texas, and competes with other department stores such as Saks Fifth...
, Bergdorf Goodman
Bergdorf Goodman
Bergdorf Goodman is a luxury goods department store based on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The company was founded in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf and was later owned and managed by Edwin Goodman, and later his son Andrew Goodman....
and Wanamaker's
Wanamaker's
Wanamaker's department store was the first department store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the first department stores in the United States. At its zenith in the early 20th century, there were two major Wanamaker department stores, one in Philadelphia and one in New York City at Broadway...
. Through the 1970s and 1980s it was the leader in both sales volume and store count in California, but had struggled in the 1990s.
The transaction was completing on October 11, 1995, and Federated subsequently announced plans to merge the organization's 83 Emporium, Weinstock's
Weinstock's
Weinstock's was an American department store headquartered in Sacramento, California. The store was purchased by The Broadway in 1992, and later purchased by Federated Department Stores in 1995. Shortly after the purchase, most of the Weinstock's stores were converted to Macy's, while the...
and The Broadway
The Broadway
The Broadway was a mid-level department store chain headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States of America. Founded in 1896 by English born Arthur Letts, Sr., who later went on to develop Holmby Hills, The Broadway became one of the dominant retailers in Southern California and the...
locations with Macy's West/Bullock's and rebrand them all with the Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
moniker in early 1996.
Eventually 49 of the Broadway locations were converted to Macy's, either as new stores, secondary stores to complement and expand existing locations, or to replacements of existing locations. Five of the stores which overlapped with Macy's and Bullock's at Sherman Oaks Fashion Square, Beverly Center, and Century City Shopping Center in Los Angeles, Fashion Island
Fashion Island
Fashion Island is an upscale open-air lifestyle center in Newport Beach, California . Fashion Island is owned by The Irvine Company.-History:...
in Newport Beach, and Stanford Shopping Center
Stanford Shopping Center
Stanford Shopping Center is an upscale open air shopping mall located on El Camino Real at Sand Hill Road in Palo Alto, California. It is on the campus of Stanford University although the university only owns the land and not the actual buildings or stores...
in Palo Alto were closed and eventually reopened as Bloomingdale's
Bloomingdale's
Bloomingdale's is an American department store owned by Macy's, Inc. .Bloomingdale's started in 1861 when brothers Joseph and Lyman G. Bloomingdale started selling hoop-skirts in their Ladies Notions' Shop on Manhattan's Lower East Side...
. Nine locations were sold to Sears, two were swapped with Central Valley rival Gottschalks
Gottschalks
Gottschalks was a middle-tier American department store that operated 58 department stores and three specialty apparel stores in six western states ; some locations ran as Harris-Gottschalks stores...
in Modesto and Fresno, while the remaining 18 were shuttered, a few of them eventually finding new life as Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
or Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
locations. One of these locations, a former Emporium in Cupertino was re-opened as a Macy's under anti-trust pressure from the California attorney general in fall 1998.
Union Square store revival
In the late 1990s Macy's began a multi-year project to rehabilitate its landmark downtown San Francisco store. The project encompassed the remodeling of the 1929 and 1948 buildings and the 1974 stand-alone Men's Store and expansion into the upper floors of the former I. Magnin store at Geary and Stockton built in 1946. The company also demolished and replaced two out-of-date buildings on Geary Street, giving the store its signature glass-fronted entry on Union Square.Liberty House acquisition
In July 2001 Federated Department Stores acquired Liberty HouseLiberty House
Liberty House, headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, was a department store and specialty store chain with locations throughout the Hawaiian Islands and on Guam, as well as several locations on the mainland U.S.-History:...
of Honolulu
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
with department store and spcialty shop locations throughout the major Hawaiian Islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
, several western states as well as the territory of Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
. The stores, including its flagship location at Ala Moana Center
Ala Moana Center
Ala Moana Center in Honolulu is the largest shopping mall in Hawaii, the fifteenth largest shopping mall in the United States, and the largest open-air shopping center in the world....
, were merged into Macy’s West.
May Department Stores merger
On February 28, 2005, Federated Department Stores announced an agreement to acquire long-time rival The May Department Stores Company, owner of competitor Robinsons-MayRobinsons-May
Robinsons-May was a chain of department stores operating in Southern California, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada, previously with headquarters in North Hollywood, California...
. Under an agreement with the California Attorney General, over 20 overlapping stores in California were required to be divested and put up for competitive bidding. Many of the locations that were divested in Macy's West's territory were eventually sold to shopping center developers such as Simon Property Group
Simon Property Group
Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American commercial real estate company, ranked #1 in the United States as the largest real estate investment trust. Simon is a fully integrated real estate company which operates from five retail real estate platforms: regional malls, Premium Outlet Centers, The...
, The Westfield Group
The Westfield Group
The Westfield Group is an Australian shopping centre group undertaking ownership, development, design, construction, funds/asset management, property management, leasing and marketing activities...
and The Macerich Company
The Macerich Company
Macerich is a self-managed Real Estate Investment Trust headquartered in Santa Monica, California.It traces its antecedents to the MaceRich Real Estate Company founded in New York in 1964 by Mace Siegel and Richard Cohen, who combined their first names to name their company...
.
The landmark deal was completed August 30, 2005, and on February 1, 2006, Macy's West assumed operational control of the former Robinsons-May division as well as Foley's
Foley's
Foley’s was a chain of department stores owned by May Department Stores and headquartered in Downtown Houston, Texas. As of August 30, 2005, the division was dissolved and operation of the stores was assumed by Federated's Macy's West and Macy's South divisions. Foley's operated stores in Texas,...
locations in Colorado, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas. Much of 2006 was spent integrating the newly-merged operations. The Foley's and Robinsons-May names were phased out completely on September 9, 2006 in favor of Macy's.