Section 1: The Case Study

1.1 Current and Historical Background
Macy’s, Inc. was founded in 1929 and brought together three of the nation’s reputable department stores: Abraham & Straus, Filene’s, and Bloomingdales, under a common holding company named the Federated Department Stores. “The roots of these individual stores stretches back well into the 19th century and deep into the fabrics of the communities that they served”. This merger under the Federated Department Stores name left each department store with its brand name intact, while linking the financial aspects of them each into a single company. In 1945 the holding company evolved into an operating company, which began expanding and acquiring across the United States. By the early 1960’s the operating company had grown to 14 divisions with annual sales exceeding $1 billion, and by the 1970’s they had quadrupled this figure by following the population migration to the suburbs. In the start of the 1980’s Federated now had 20 divisions and over 364 stores. At the end of the 1980’s Federated was under siege by Robert Campeau through a leveraged takeover and only two years later in 1990 they filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. During the proceeding years the company was consolidated down and emerged as a “new” public company, acquiring Macy’s in 1994, and soon after opened macys.com. In the 2000’s Federated acquired May Company, a long time competitor and doubled the size of the company; this placed a Macy’s in 63 out of 65 of the top US markets. In 2007 Federated Department Stores changed their name to Macy’s Inc., a bi-divisional corporation with the brands Macy’s and Bloomingdales. Currently, the scope of their operations is contained within the US to 45 states, the District of Columbia, and 2 US territories. They now employ over 175,000 workers, operate 840 stores and 13 outlets, and operate the websites