Macy's Downtown, 601 Olive Street - CLOSED

threeonefour · PostDec 03, 2007#4762007-12-03T18:34+00:00

After reading the posts here and doing some research over the weekend, I'm really thinking about heading to Pittsburgh next summer.

Anyway, back to the downtown Macy's...

On Saturday my wife and I took our son to Breakfast With Santa. It's a very well-run event, featuring good French toast, photo ops with Santa, Frosty, and Rudolph, entertainers (a magician, juggler, clowns, etc.), and a sing-along for the children. The kids also get a coloring book. Downstairs after the event, children can visit with Santa and get more treats along with a free picture (I must say I can't remember the last time I saw a Polaroid!). And, of course, the animated displays in the windows along Olive Street and the train display at Seventh and Locust streets provide many minutes (or hours?) of entertainment for the little ones.

Macy's had a near-capacity crowd for BWS, and the store was fairly busy before and after the event.

After checking out the train display, we boarded a trolley sponsored by the downtown merchants and rode it to Union Station. I didn't have high hopes for our visit to the station, but it wasn't that bad. Our son got to see Santa again (he travels fast!) and received a coloring book and a goodie bag. There were dancers and singers at various points during the day, and many more people than I expected. Equally surprising, the people there were actually doing some shopping! (Maybe they were taking advantage of some Get Ringo Free deal with the purchase of John, Paul, and George bobbleheads at Beatles For Sale, I don't know.)

The trolley was a great idea, but we didn't really get a chance to stop at any of the local merchants with a four y/o boy along for the ride. And, sadly, the trolley wasn't very busy. Like I said, it's a great idea, but I didn't hear much about it prior to Saturday.

We had fun overall, but the streets were pretty empty except for those around Macy's. I cannot wait until we see some progress at MX. In five years' time, this area could be much more interesting, and shopping downtown will really be fun again.

dweebe · PostDec 03, 2007#4772007-12-03T18:57+00:00

Did my part this weekend. Instead of going 10 minutes west to the Galleria I went to the downtown Macys.

Bought a new suit, winter coat and earmuffs. Then had lunch at Papa's. Dropped almost $400 down there after it was all said and done.

Alex Ihnen · PostDec 03, 2007#4782007-12-03T19:04+00:00

^ Excellent. For anyone who may be in the market, Macy's has Hart Schaffner Marx suits for $200.

arch city · PostDec 03, 2007#4792007-12-03T19:08+00:00

Pittsburgh does have a vibrant downtown compared to St. Louis, but downtown Pittburgh does not have a Clayton/Mid County to compete with it. I love visiting Pittsburgh and even thought about living there once. Pittsburgh is far from a dying city (or region) it seems.

While I am glad downtown St. Louis is finally getting/planning a decent shopping district in the MX, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati both have ample shopping in their downtown's now. Hopefully, St. Louis' plans will be as successful.

Let's hope Pyramid, General Growth and Macy's can continue to help build on what downtown St. Louis has gained retail-wise.

jcity · PostDec 10, 2007#4802007-12-10T04:21+00:00

I went today. Sadly, I just don't think I can go back to seriously shop for clothes there. This looks like a borderline ghetto store, imo. The "wider aisles" and "fresh new paint" don't do it for me. Why would ANYONE really go here over going to the Galleria?

This store, as I've repeatedly stated on this forum, could be so much more. They should gut the first few floors, open up the original windows and ceilings and this building could compete with the Macy's store in New York. I wouldn't be surprised if the Railway Exchange Building (Macy's) was bigger than the New York flagship store. This could be one of the best department stores in North America, if done correctly. Sadly, it sits looking like it's about to be closed. G-H-E-T-T-O...And, the sales staff didn't exactly seem to be of the caliber of their other stores... The only "acceptable" floor was the home furnishings and furniture floor. I always get a kick out of the wooden escalators, they BETTER keep those!

threeonefour · PostDec 10, 2007#4812007-12-10T04:29+00:00

^ I really don't think it's as bad as you suggest, but I agree the merchandise mix really pales in comparison to the Galleria and West County locations.

I figure Macy's will improve their offerings once the first round of stores within the Mercantile Exchange area opens, but I wish they'd realize there are plenty of shoppers that would like to see more variety NOW!

downtown2007 · PostDec 10, 2007#4822007-12-10T04:31+00:00

Ghetto? JCity dont you think that is kind of harsh? I am usually the first one to complain about the dismal selection of mens clothing but the selection on the other floors is quite good. I would encourage you to send a message to them on their website.

threeonefour · PostDec 10, 2007#4832007-12-10T04:32+00:00

^ That was my point as well. Is there room for improvement? Yes. Ghetto? Let's not get carried away.

zink · PostDec 10, 2007#4842007-12-10T05:45+00:00

JCity wrote:
This store, as I've repeatedly stated on this forum, could be so much more. They should gut the first few floors, open up the original windows and ceilings and this building could compete with the Macy's store in New York. I wouldn't be surprised if the Railway Exchange Building (Macy's) was bigger than the New York flagship store. This could be one of the best department stores in North America, if done correctly.

EYE EYE!

If they opened up those windows on the other floors... i would pee in my pants.

I say close the Macys at the west county mall and invest in the downtown one

c2city · PostDec 10, 2007#4852007-12-10T06:11+00:00

I would like to agree that the wooden escalators are one of the most fantastic things. In addition, when I was there recently I was quite surprised by the quality of the furniture floor since I had never been all the way up in it before. They should push that more and make the store seem more upscale than the first floors look now.

I also agree with everyone so much more can be done with the interaction between the city and the store with small architectural changes.

debaliviere · PostDec 10, 2007#4862007-12-10T14:46+00:00

clellchatman wrote:I would like to agree that the wooden escalators are one of the most fantastic things. In addition, when I was there recently I was quite surprised by the quality of the furniture floor since I had never been all the way up in it before. They should push that more and make the store seem more upscale than the first floors look now.

I also agree with everyone so much more can be done with the interaction between the city and the store with small architectural changes.

Furniture is one of the areas in which the downtown store competes very well with the other stores - they seem to have the same selection as the other stores, and all the furniture comes from the same warehouse anyway, so if you're buying furniture from Macy's, you might as well buy it downtown!

matt · PostDec 10, 2007#4872007-12-10T14:53+00:00

Remember that Macy's only aspiration is to be the number one mainstream department store with a particular customer segment.

jmedwick · PostDec 10, 2007#4882007-12-10T15:56+00:00

They should gut the first few floors, open up the original windows and ceilings and this building could compete with the Macy's store in New York.

Um, have you ever been to the Herald Square store in NYC? If not, you might not want to bother using it as a model for the downtown St. Louis store. Most of the NYC flagship is pretty bland. Sure the selection is better, but other than the eastern half of the 1st floor, the design aesthetic is pretty similar.

As for the "ghetto" selection, remember this is Macy's you are taking about. Selection in clothing even at the best suburban stores is pretty lacking.

ras9929 · PostDec 10, 2007#4892007-12-10T17:31+00:00

JCity wrote:I went today. Sadly, I just don't think I can go back to seriously shop for clothes there. This looks like a borderline ghetto store, imo. The "wider aisles" and "fresh new paint" don't do it for me. Why would ANYONE really go here over going to the Galleria?

This store, as I've repeatedly stated on this forum, could be so much more. They should gut the first few floors, open up the original windows and ceilings and this building could compete with the Macy's store in New York. I wouldn't be surprised if the Railway Exchange Building (Macy's) was bigger than the New York flagship store. This could be one of the best department stores in North America, if done correctly. Sadly, it sits looking like it's about to be closed. G-H-E-T-T-O...And, the sales staff didn't exactly seem to be of the caliber of their other stores... The only "acceptable" floor was the home furnishings and furniture floor. I always get a kick out of the wooden escalators, they BETTER keep those!

I want some of the goggles your wearing? Herald Square is at least four times the size of the Railway Exchange, and the amount of people in Manhattan in a 10 block radius destroys the number of people in downtown STL.

I'm fairly confident that Macy's would never (and probably should never) invest the amount of money to put the store on par with any other flagship in the chain.

I personally would cut the merchandise levels down more, clean everything up a bit, and spend the money doing things like the windows, and breakfast with santa. I think using the downtown store not as a true sales location, but at a marketing tool to build local brand equity is one of the better uses they have for it...

jeff707 · PostDec 10, 2007#4902007-12-10T21:19+00:00

I've beeyatched about the selection there to Macy's buyers before and they all agree. Granted, they aren't very high up in the chain and are very young and "hip" but apparently the decision makers don't see it the way we do. Everyone I brought it up to said something to the effect "you need to tell my boss that!"

Alex Ihnen · PostDec 10, 2007#4912007-12-10T22:34+00:00

So who's the boss's boss? When/if you find out let us all know!

matguy70 · PostDec 10, 2007#4922007-12-10T23:18+00:00

Wow - harsh critism...

I particularly think the downtown store looks wonderful - especially since Macy's is investing in it.

Went on Saturday 12:30 p.m. and took my nephew and sister/brolaw and the store was filled with people - on a Saturday! The santa claus is wonderful - as my nephew (6) said when we got there - "wow - I think this is the real santa claus!) and we waited in line for photos with santa from 2:00-2:35p.m. - photos ARE FREE (unlike the malls) and they get Macy Candy suckers to boot. We shopped the store - which IMO looks great - ghetto??? Not at all. Classic department store!

We had to wait to check out - not for the lack of customer service - but because there were so many people there. We also walked the windows and looking down at the windows on the Olive block - I observed approx. 100 people (families) all reading the story and walking the streets around the store. IThe sales clerk, who was very pleasant and "in the season" as she told us there were a few spaces left with Breakfast with Santa the last weekend before XMAS if we were interested - otherwise they were unfortunately sold out all Saturday's and Sunday's already. I asked her how sales were at the store and she kind of "whispered" back to me that she understands that this is the highest grossing year of the downtown store since way back (who knows how long). She said "I love it!". She then went on and told me even more - she said that they are adding a foodcourt style restaurant in the basement are of tehe store next year when the new "mall" (refering to the MX Village) and she said Macy's is redoing the north side of the store! Interesting!

As for the store - Macy's is definately taking interest and sales are going to be a great thing for them as well. They will take norte - and they are dedicated to the store it seems. It continually gets better. I, for one, think the store looks fantastic and so do so many others. While I sat on the 6th floor waiting for the bathroom break (for nephew) - there were two middle aged gals sitting in the same area by the escalators who were talking - me ease dropping - and everything they were saying was how wonderful the store looks and how much shopping there is in one place... which is true... The Galeria store is way limited when it comes to home decor, furnishings/furniture, baby toys/goods and clothes, etc... 7 floors compared to the Galleria's 2. If you want a box mall store - go there --- if you want a true classic downtown department store - have lunch and a "shopping experience" go downtown. Period.

innov8ion · PostDec 10, 2007#4932007-12-10T23:22+00:00

^ Sounds good, except they close at 6 or something on weekdays.

Alex Ihnen · PostDec 10, 2007#4942007-12-10T23:26+00:00

^ Not for the holiday season they don't. (though I do wish they were open until 9pm)

jcity · PostDec 11, 2007#4952007-12-11T03:21+00:00

RAS9929

I've never been to the store in New York, but I know when the Railway Exchange was built, it was the largest office building in the world, in terms of square footage.

People, don't get me wrong, I'm a HUGE fan of this store, I just think it could be so much more. I also think they could sand blast/polish the marble floors and make them look excellent, expose the original ceiling, assuming it still exists, and OPEN THE WINDOWS! This is an asset that St. Louis has that few if any cities of equal size or smaller have. Yes, activity was definitely impressive, but I think they could do more if they're really serious about returning this store to its former glory.

rbb · PostDec 11, 2007#4962007-12-11T13:03+00:00

For what it's worth:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... 68,00.html

RENTING AREAS (IN SQ. FT.)

Railway Exchange Building (St. Louis).......1,118,683

http://nymag.com/news/features/2007/profit/32899/

Federated owns the 2.2 million-square-foot Herald Square building

Macy's says their Herald Square store is "over 1,000,000 square feet".

The St. Louis store is about 300K:

http://www.mxstl.com/press/

The new district will add 160,000 square feet of new retail space to the existing 300,000 square feet Macy's.

So, if Federated wanted to make the entire Railway Exchange building into one large department store, they could in theory make it about the same size as their flagship store. But the Herald Square building itself is quite a bit larger than the Railway Exchange building.

Why they would would want to do that is beyond me. I love STL, but it's no where close to supporting the foot traffic of the NYC store.

-RBB

jeff707 · PostDec 11, 2007#4972007-12-11T15:33+00:00

matguy70 wrote:Wow - harsh critism...

I particularly think the downtown store looks wonderful - especially since Macy's is investing in it.

Went on Saturday 12:30 p.m. and took my nephew and sister/brolaw and the store was filled with people - on a Saturday! The santa claus is wonderful - as my nephew (6) said when we got there - "wow - I think this is the real santa claus!) and we waited in line for photos with santa from 2:00-2:35p.m. - photos ARE FREE (unlike the malls) and they get Macy Candy suckers to boot. We shopped the store - which IMO looks great - ghetto??? Not at all. Classic department store!

We had to wait to check out - not for the lack of customer service - but because there were so many people there. We also walked the windows and looking down at the windows on the Olive block - I observed approx. 100 people (families) all reading the story and walking the streets around the store. IThe sales clerk, who was very pleasant and "in the season" as she told us there were a few spaces left with Breakfast with Santa the last weekend before XMAS if we were interested - otherwise they were unfortunately sold out all Saturday's and Sunday's already. I asked her how sales were at the store and she kind of "whispered" back to me that she understands that this is the highest grossing year of the downtown store since way back (who knows how long). She said "I love it!". She then went on and told me even more - she said that they are adding a foodcourt style restaurant in the basement are of tehe store next year when the new "mall" (refering to the MX Village) and she said Macy's is redoing the north side of the store! Interesting!

As for the store - Macy's is definately taking interest and sales are going to be a great thing for them as well. They will take norte - and they are dedicated to the store it seems. It continually gets better. I, for one, think the store looks fantastic and so do so many others. While I sat on the 6th floor waiting for the bathroom break (for nephew) - there were two middle aged gals sitting in the same area by the escalators who were talking - me ease dropping - and everything they were saying was how wonderful the store looks and how much shopping there is in one place... which is true... The Galeria store is way limited when it comes to home decor, furnishings/furniture, baby toys/goods and clothes, etc... 7 floors compared to the Galleria's 2. If you want a box mall store - go there --- if you want a true classic downtown department store - have lunch and a "shopping experience" go downtown. Period.

Taht's great... and I agree with everything you said. You addressed a lot of good qualities about the store. But you didn't address a major issue, and the point of many people's previous posts: the selection of clothes is not appropriate for young people or people, fashionable, trendy, up-to-date, or whatever you want to call it. The lines they stock the shelves with are of low quality and/or marketing towards middle aged moms and dads.

tysalpha · PostDec 11, 2007#4982007-12-11T16:06+00:00

RBB wrote:So, if Federated wanted to make the entire Railway Exchange building into one large department store, they could in theory make it about the same size as their flagship store. But the Herald Square building itself is quite a bit larger than the Railway Exchange building.

Why they would would want to do that is beyond me. I love STL, but it's no where close to supporting the foot traffic of the NYC store.

-RBB

Adding retail floorspace vertically doesn't work as well as it does horizontally. People just don't make it up to the top floors because of the perception it takes more energy. It's the same reason that they will dart across a busy street instead of using a pedestrian tunnell or overpass.

southsidepride · PostDec 11, 2007#4992007-12-11T16:15+00:00

^that's funny. What I always liked best about downtown Famous (Macy's) was the fact that there were all those floors. I would always go out of my way to explore all the levels whether or not I needed anything there.

Like I needed any more evidence I'm wired a little different than the norm

matt · PostDec 11, 2007#5002007-12-11T16:36+00:00

If the market continues to grow, no telling what Macy's may do.

What will be the demand for prepared and gourmet foods shops in Macy's? Or maybe MX will someday include a Dean and Deluca?

Macy's Downtown, 601 Olive Street - CLOSED

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