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Macy’s Maintains Traditions to Mollify Marshall Fields Mavens

Federated Department Stores plans to maintain the holiday traditions at its Chicago’s Marshall Field’s flagship store and others in order to keep loyal customers happy now that local brands have switched to Macy’s.

In September, Federated Department Stores took its Macy’s brand nationwide, turning regional brands such as Filene’s, Foley’s and Marshall Fields into Macy’s locations. Now, with Christmas just around the corner, the brand associated with New York’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and “Miracle on 34th Street” needs to prove to the rest of the country that it has improved the shopping experience at local stores, writes the AP (via the Seattle Times).

With that in mind, Federated has launched a nationwide offensive of holiday cheer, with lavish displays in stores from coast to coast. It has also made much of its predecessors’ Christmas traditions, according to the article.

For example, the 45-foot Christmas tree in Chicago’s Marshall Fields will remain, as will the arched plastic pine boughs and traditional Thanksgiving parade of Pittsburgh’s 120-year-old Kaufmann chain.
“This is really the year that Macy’s will have that one shot to show the markets that they’ve replaced the traditional retailers with a new and improved Macy’s,” Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for the market-research firm NPD Group, is quoted as saying.

A survey from Deloitte & Touche showed that a quarter of Chicago-area shoppers said they would shop less at Macy’s this year than they did at Marshall Field’s, but nationwide, the number of customers who said they would shop less at the new Macy’s stores than at other sites under a regional name was only 9 percent.

It is believed that local television will lose advertising dollars typically spent by regional stores, as Macy’s continues its push to become a national brand.