As we discussed previously, Macy’s has been planning stores
to help sell excess clothing, footwear, and accessories. If you missed it, you
can go back and read our
Macy’s closeout stores article earlier this year. Fast forward to today,
Macy’s has officially announced that the first four pilot stores will open in
fall 2015 in metro New York City.
To be called Macy’s Backstage, the four off-price
stores will average about 30,000 square feet and offer a compelling assortment
of women’s, men’s and children’s apparel, shoes, fashion accessories, housewares,
home textiles, intimate apparel and jewelry. Each store also will include
amenities, such as free WiFi and a suite of spacious fitting rooms. One location
will test a café concept so customers can relax and refresh.
Merchandise will include clearance goods from Macy’s
stores, as well as special buys from well-recognized fashion brands – all at
exceptionally great values, often between 20 percent to 80 percent off of
original and comparable prices for similar merchandise.
Macy’s chief innovation and business development officer
Peter Sachse said, “Backstage is a new retail concept that the Macy’s team has
built from scratch over the past six months. It will be an exciting shopping
experience supported with compelling marketing, both traditional and mobile.”
Each Macy’s Backstage store is expected to hire a
staff of about 30 associates. The pilot store locations are:
Sheepshead Bay (2027 Emmons Ave.), Brooklyn, NY
Queens Place, Elmhurst (Queens), NY
Lake Success Shopping Center, New Hyde Park, NY
Melville Mall, Huntington, NY.
Macy’s Backstage stores will accept Macy’s charge cards, as
well as other forms of payment. Macy’s Backstage business will not be driven by
promotional events. As per the press release about the new stores, it appears
that Macy’s coupons will not be accepted in the off-price locations.
The value of the Macy's Backstage offering will be clear to customers. More
details will be announced as the opening dates approach.
Macy’s, Inc., with corporate offices in Cincinnati and New
York, is one of the nation’s premier retailers, with fiscal 2014 sales of
$28.105 billion. The company operates about 885 stores in 45 states, the
District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico under the names of Macy’s,
Bloomingdale’s, Bloomingdale’s Outlet and Bluemercury, as well as the macys.com,
bloomingdales.com and bluemercury.com websites. Bloomingdale’s in Dubai is
operated by Al Tayer Group LLC under a license agreement.
Macy’s new off-price business is one of the
company’s key growth initiatives. Do you think the concept will be successful?
Thank you for taking the time to read our fashion retail blog post. We hope that you have found this news to be informative. If you have comments or questions, please add your thoughts in the discussion area below.
