The sun., 1908-02-02
HALF GNTURYOF ABIGSTORE
n. II. MACY g. co. TO CELEBRATE
ITS SEMI-CENTENNIAL.


II is just half a century since Rowland H.
Macy. a Down East shopkeeper, came to
New York and opened little store on Sixth
avenue one door below Fourteenth street.
Young Mr.. Macy was all but broke. He
had failed as storekeeper in Massachu-
sets and he came here from Haverhin
with just enough money and just enough
nerve TO try the game once more in the big
gest place he could find The store he
rented had four, stories I'd "a twenty-five
foot front. On Il he hung his sign: -R. Fl.
Macy. dealer. IN dry goods, carpets. oil
cloths and mattings.' That was in 1858.
Mr. Macy's success at establishing name
and a business that was to be known all
over the world the present firm Of r. H.
Macy a Co, which has kept the name OF
the originator. though he died in 1877. Ia
going TO celebrate this week in the big
store that still bears his Dame at Rroad-
way and Thirty-fourth street. There isn't
much In the present store that would re-
mind the Yankee shOpkeeper, II be were
alive, Of the little store he had on Sixth
avenue, esut 10 is interesting 10 note that
he would still see to-day in some OF it's
features a development Of some Of the
ideas his ingenuity as a storekeeper de-
vised half century ago. Intact the Macy
store as a department store stands as q
monument to the fertility Of his genius.
for it was Mr.. Macy. $50 his friends say,
TO whom properly belongs the honor OF in
venting tha department store.
Back in the days when Macy opened his
little store on Sixth avenue there were
plenty of dry goods stores. Grand street
was the great shopping street then, and
xuh
now sell their wares the wealth and fashion
of the town turned out to do their purchas
ing. Soon after Mr.. Macy opened his store
uptown trade came along so fast that he
rented a store on Fourteenth street that
connected in the rear with his little store
on Sixth avenue. and another one that made
him big enough TO reach TO Thirteenth
street. He couldn't use all this space with
his own wares, but he conceived the idea
Of renting space in the store to folks with
other things 20 sell besides dry goods
1t wasn't very long then before Macy
decided to run all the little stores in his big
store himself as departments. He began
with crockery and furniture. II wasn't
until years afterward that this idea was
elaborated TO such an extent as to include
a grocery department. Probably Mr.. Macy
would have marvened at this.
There are still two or three gray haired
old men in the big Macy store on Broadway
who worked under Mr. Macy. He died
while on a visit TO Paris in 1877 after seeing
his little store grow along Sixth avenue
To old New Workers the celebration Of the
serni-centennial Of the Macy store should be
of interest because years ago the store was
one Of New York's institutions, and the man
from the provinces went to see it before he
went to see the new obelisk. One thing
that attracted attention TO 1t years ago was
the restaurant. II was the first store to
have a restaurant and persons who came to
New York Tor visit went back to tell the
home folks Of the store that was in New York
where you could buy piece Of silk on one
floor and eat a whole meal on the floor above.
To-day fbls feature has been added to
number OF large stores, but you could get
. meal at Macy's back in the early sos.
The Yankee who started the store in 1858
after New England had refused to furnish
him livelihood had plan OF doing busi-
ness that made him unique among shop
keepers in those days. He fixed on a GER
tain percentage Of profit that he would get
on every article he sold and he added this
percentage to the price IT had cost him, with
the result that in many cases the sum was
=
the rule Macy refused to depart from it
to add the extra cent in order 20 make it an
even figure and avoid the bother Of making
change. IL WASH long before not only
Macy but his rivals as we'll discovered that
the odd prices we're an allurement that more
than made up for the trouble in making
change.
When Mr. Macy died. in 1877. A. F. La
Forege and Robert Valentine took over the
business. but they kept the name just as it
was when Macy died. Then a year later.
when La Forege died. c. B. Webster became
associated Nth Valentine. Mr. Valentine
died, and in 1888 Isidor and Nathan Straus
became associated with Mr.. Webster, this
partnership existing until June, 1893. when
Mr.. Webster retired.
Since Macy opened his Sixth avenue store
there has been a revolution In the ways OF
running a big department store. Then
manufacturers and wholesalers sold goods
to Macy and he sold them over his counters.
To-day some of the large stores own or con-
troll these tributaries For instance, the
store started 10y Macy to-day has a glass
ware factory in Bohemia, a cut glass fac
tory in New York city. pottery az Rudolf
stadt, porcelain decorating plant at Carls-
bad, a china decorating shop at Limoges
and one here, a handkerchief factory in
Ireland, maLsi sss and harness factories in
this city, as laboratory and plant for pre-
pairing groceries and making candy.
The young man from Haverhill saw his
enterprise grow until his store employed
1000 persons. That was considered re-
narkable. At present the store has 5 600
employees, and IL to these are added those
employed in the manufacturing enterprises
the number would reach 10000.
Perhaps the most Interesting develop
ment in connection with the growth Of the
idea that was conceived by Mr.. Macy has
been that OF the delivery system. Almost
UP 70 tbs time that Macy died the parcels
that folks didn't take home themselves
were deLvared in a handcart. The man
who pushed this handcart occasionally
had to push it as far north "a Fifty-ninth
street, but never beyond. Sometimes his
trips took him as far south as Houston
street. There Is a story told by the old
timers in the store that this man grew rich
and retired, not on his modest compensa-
tion, but through getting back from the
customers the string and the paper and
selling them. This old handCart in which
Mr.. Macy delivered his packages was kept
until a ksWeyears ago,
Once in a while some one dropped into
Macy's sbore from Brooklyn or Jersey City
nnd hOl0kt enough 10 eDtite him no hav