 Macy's Department Store, New York City
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Macy's is a chain of mid-range American department stores with its flagship store in Herald Square, New York City.
With a retail space of one million square feet, Macy's bills itself as the "world's largest store" since completion of its Seventh Avenue store in 1924. The retail space rivals that of Harrods in London, which also has one million square feet of selling space under one roof. Macy's also operates two other national flagship stores, at San Francisco's Union Square and the former Marshall Field's flagship on State Street in the Chicago Loop.
Macy's Department Store, New York City
Author: Martin Dürrschnabel (Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 Generic)
Macy's is well-known for sponsoring the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, a parade held on the streets of New York City annually since 1924.
Macy's was founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy as a dry goods store in downtown Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1851. R.H. Macy moved to New York City and established a new store named "R. H. Macy & Company" on the corner of 14th Street and 6th Avenue. After that, he moved to 18th Street and Broadway, which was called the "Ladies' Mile", a 19th century elite shopping district.
In 1896, R. H. Macy's was acquired by Isidor Straus and his brother Nathan, who had previously sold merchandise in the store. In 1902 the flagship store moved further uptown to Herald Square at 34th Street and Broadway. This is where it stays until today.
Façade of Macy's
Author: Gryffindor (public domain)
From just one building, Macy's has expanded to eventually occupying almost the entire block bounded by 7th Avenue on the west, Broadway on the east, 34th Street on the south, and 35th Street on the north. The only separate property on that block to this date is a small 19th century brownstone building on the corner of 34th and Broadway. Macy's rents it annually for a huge sum and camouflages it with giant signs, so that it would not detract attention from the Macy's store.
The original Broadway R. H. Macy Company and Store building was built in 1901–1902 by architects De Lemos & Cordes. It is sheathed in a Palladian façade. Other additions were added in 1924, 1928, and 1931, all by architect Robert D. Kohn, in the Art Deco style. Today the Macy's building is a designated National Historic Landmark.
Getting there
Take the B, D, F, M, N, Q or R train to the 34th Street-Herald Square Subway Station and walk a short distance to the entrance of Macy's.
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