page_title: Macy's
section_title: 2005–2006: Effects of Federated–May merger
hierarchical_section_title: Macy's / History under Federated / 2005–2006: Effects of Federated–May merger
caption_attribution_description: Macy's store at Westfield Hawthorn mall.
context_page_description: Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated with the Bloomingdale's department store chain; the holding company was renamed Macy's, Inc. in 2007. As of 2015, Macy's was the largest U.S. department store company by retail sales. As of May 2, 2020, there were 552 stores, including 11 flagships and 384 magnets, for a total of 395 core stores, and 97 neighborhood stores, 50 furniture galleries, 3 furniture clearance centers, 6 freestanding Backstage stores and 1 Market by Macy's with the Macy's nameplate in operation throughout the United States. Its flagship store is located at Herald Square in the Manhattan borough of New York City. The company had 130,000 employees and earned annual revenue of $24.8 billion as of 2017.
  Macy's has conducted the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City since 1924 and has sponsored the city's annual Fourth of July fireworks display since 1976. Macy's Herald Square is one of the largest department stores in the world.
context_section_description: On February 28, 2005, Federated agreed to terms of a deal to acquire The May Department Stores Company for $11 billion (equivalent to $14.4 billion in 2019) in stock, creating the nation's second largest department store chain with $30 billion (equivalent to $39.3 billion in 2019) in annual sales and more than 1,000 stores.
  On July 28, 2005, Federated announced, based on the success of converting its own regional brands to the Macy's name, its plans to similarly convert 330 regional department stores owned by the May Company (as May Department Stores was generally referred to) to the Macy's nameplate. This included May's Marshall Field's (which had just been purchased by the May Company from Target in 2004), Kaufmann's, Famous-Barr, Filene's, Foley's, Hecht's, The Jones Store, L. S. Ayres, Meier & Frank, Robinsons-May, and Strawbridge & Clothier chains, pending approval of the merger by federal regulators.
  The rebranding of the May stores was disliked in Chicago and elsewhere because the stores were regarded as beloved local institutions. The renaming of Filene's, Marshall Field's, and Kaufmann's, which were well known for their downtown flagship stores and local traditions provoked the most outrage. For example, Kaufmann's operated the Kaufmann's Celebrate the Season Parade which was traditionally broadcast live throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on television. Many customers publicly vowed to never again shop at the renamed May stores and to switch to competitors. Prominent film critic Roger Ebert voiced the grief of many Chicagoans at the loss of Field's when he wrote in his column on September 21, 2005:
  I thought the day would never come. I am looking at my Field's charge card, which I have cut up into tiny pieces. They look like little tears the color of money.
  On January 12, 2006, Federated announced its plans to divest May Company's Lord & Taylor division by the end of 2006 before converting and closing seven stores. On June 22, 2006, Macy's announced that NDRC Equity Partners, LLC would purchase Lord & Taylor for US$1.2 billion (equivalent to $1.52 billion in 2019), and completed the sale in October 2006.
  By September 9, 2006, after renaming the former May Company stores, Macy's operated approximately 850 stores in the United States. To promote its largest and most recent expansion, Macy's used a version of the Martha and the Vandellas hit song, "Dancing in the Street", in its advertising. Also, the company took props from its annual Thanksgiving Day parade to various re-labeled stores throughout the nation, in what the company marketed as its "Parade on Parade".
  In October 2006, Federated Department Stores entered into an agreement with Zoom Systems to test more than 100 stores within retail giant Macy's. Terry Lundgren, CEO of Federated, raved about the ability to provide consumers with a convenient means to purchase iPods and other consumer electronics, saying "This is exciting because it brings most-wanted merchandise into stores in a unique new way.... How cool is that?" Today, Macy's has converted its entire Electronics section in every store to (over 400) eSpot ZoomShops.
caption: Exterior of a typical ex-Marshall Field's suburban Macy's store at Westfield Hawthorn in Vernon Hills, Illinois
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