"Give my regards to Broadway... remember me to Herald Square!" (Macy's mood right now). Macy's flagship Herald Square location is one of the largest department stores in the world (think: 50 departments across 10 floors). Now, the mall OG wants to go even bigger — despite a rough, losing year that spurred it to close dozens of stores. The ambitious proposal:
Not your typical "future of work"... For all the talk about permanent WFH, hybrid workspaces, and hologram colleagues, companies are still investing in office space. NYC expects a boom in new office jobs, forecasting a return to pre-pandemic office employment by the end of the year. NYC would get $250M in new tax revenue from the proposal. Macy's would get prime corporate real estate (that it can charge sky-high rent for).
Lean into your strengths (creatively)... Macy's understands physical retail, and it knows where tourists want to shop (Buddy the Elf worked at its Herald Square location). Now, Macy's is leaning into its strengths — boldly and creatively. Coincidentally, it was also one of the few departments stores that didn't go corona-bankrupt (see: JCPenney, Lord Taylor, Neiman Marcus). Last quarter, it even managed to turn a small profit. We'll see if "revenge spending" boosted its sales when it reports earnings next week.