mr. w

Macy's Cuts Dividend: Other Retailers Down on the News

Macy's spiral down just continues. When are shareholders and the board going to boot Lundgren??? Their stores continue to be ill-managed, unkept and filled with K-mart quality private label lines that are priced like Neiman Marcus but offering 70% off sales. Consumers are not fooled.
The only hope is to differentiate themselves by taking advantage of key names Lundgren trashed such as Marshall Field's, Jordan Marsh, etc.. they had so much more branding power than the lower middle market that Macy's is fighting for with Kohl's, Sears, Target and Wal-mart.

Macy's Should Monetize Its Former Brands

Yes, bringing back Marshall Field's may actually boost Messymart's sales by 10%. Field's was an iconic store that has been turned into a little more than a bargain basement rummage sale. My wife and I wouldn't be caught dead buying anything with a Messymart label. People are very apologetic when you say I'm wearing something I bought at Messy's. It's like they know they shopped and bought it at 80% off so it offsets the feeling of the cheap, inferior quality it actually is. When is the Board and shareholders going to wake up; I guess somewhere when they write-off $9B (yes billion) in goodwill from dumping names such as Marshall Field's, Kaufmann's, Wannamaker's, Rich's, Burdines etc....

Macy's' Problems Have Just Begun

Anyone in Chicago saw this coming two years ago; the whole Macy's North division which were the former glorious Marshall Field stores are a huge drain on their profitability. Closing the division into Macy's East just keeps the spiral continuing downward. The stores are dirty, unkept and staffed with part-time high schoolers who listen to their I-pods more versus helping anyone in their stores. Their cheaply made house brands are a joke and most people will vote with theit pocketbooks; thus Messymart is domed to fail. Bring back several of the iconic names along with the level of service and goods; then it may have a chance at serviving. Marshall Field's was hands down a winner versus what Lunkhead keeps trying to do; they are headed for the same fate as Sears; yet at least Sears has tools, appliances and batteries to fall back on versus all softgoods at Messymart.

Macy's' Goodwill Is a Red Flag

I couldn't agree more with the earlier comments from Jim McKay. Macy's has lost such incredible goodwill in Chicago. Sale tax records verify that Macy's volume at the former iconic Marshall Field's State Street store is off more than 40%. America is truly tired of the homogenization of these department stores differing very little between Penny's, Sears, Kohl's and Macys. They are bland and generic at best. What has happened to inovation in the department store sector is beyond me. Macy's is probably the most hated company in the Chicagoland marketplace.
That being said; it does have the chance to take advantage of several of the nameplates it trashed, such as Field's, Filene's,and Kaufmann's to name a few. If there were downtown emporiums re-established I believe Macy's could differentiate themselves from all the other department store and discounters that just do nothing but take marketshare away from each other. There isn't any growth happening here until some company actually thinks outside the box.