Where Macy’s Came From

In the beginning, Macy’s was one store in New York. And Bloomingdale’s was one store in New York, and Filene’s in Boston, and Wanamaker’s in Philadelphia, and Bullock's in Los Angeles, and Marshall Field’s in Chicago. Throughout the 20th century, waves of consolidation concentrated independently run stores in the hands of fewer and larger holding companies.

In 1994 Federated Department Stores purchased R.H. Macy’s Co., and by 2006 they had converted all their brands to the Macy’s and Bloomingdales’s nameplates. More than fifty independently owned department stores have been folded into what Macy’s is today. Facing eleven consecutive quarters of declining comparable sales, one of the last department stores standing struggles into the holiday season.