Federated reports that sales are down at the Marshall Fields locations that have been converted to Macy’s [Trib].
Federated Chairman and CEO Terry Lundgren said he was “pleased” with sales at the legacy Macy’s stores and at Bloomingdales, “however sales in the new Macy’s locations were disappointing in the quarter.” Total sales in the first quarter fell 0.2 percent to $5.92 billion, missing the company’s forecast of $6 billion to $6.1 billion.
I told you so?
The only issue with declaring victory over the numbskulls from New York is that retail sales have been weak overall. Yes, the report states that results in older Macy’s locations have been fine, giving hope that Federated will soon wake up to the truth that pissing on a town’s history won’t win you customers. But it’s still too soon, and there’s still the quite logical idea that many customers refuse business not out of some historical loyalty but the fact that they don’t like the new brands they find behind their formerly favorite doors.
Let’s just hope that sales at longtime Macy’s stores are through the roof for the rest of the year while the Fields locations languish. What little hope there is to revive the Fields name relies on Federated execs having no other excuse than customers don’t want to do business with the red starred nameplate.