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The Biography of Rowland H. Macy

Rowland H. Macy is best known as an American businessman who lived from 1822 to 1877. He was the founder of the popular and the big Macy’s chain of department stores. Macy is a prominent character in society because his legacy is that of capitalism: Starting a successful business from very humble beginnings and then turning it into a giant retail chain that still flourishes today. It is interesting for people today to read about Macy because they can learn a lot about the perseverance it often takes in life to become successful. To wit, Macy started a series of retail dry goods stores in Haverhill, Massachusetts, which all failed before he opened up the first, true Macy’s store in New York City in 1858. From humble beginnings, the store has turned into something of a mainstay in American holiday celebrations, which is observable just from the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Macy was born on August 30, 1822, on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, into a Quaker family. He was the fourth of six kids, and when he turned 15 years of age, Macy actually worked aboard a whaling ship called the Emily Morgan. An interesting fact about the Macy’s chain of department stores is that the red tattoo of a star that Macy sported on his hand during this time actually became a part of the logo of the store itself. When he was only 22 years old in 1844, Macy married Louisa Houghton with whom he had two kids, one Florence Macy and the other Rowland Hussey Macy, Jr.

The career of Macy as an American businessman started relatively early in his life. In 1843 he opened the first of what would be four retail dry goods stores in the Massachusetts area; the stores were meant to provide goods to the mill service employees who frequented and lived in the area. While all four dry goods stores turned out to be unsuccessful failures, Macy showed his ability to bounce back from adversity by learning from his unsuccessful ventures each time. Macy would demonstrate his ability to survive, make a comeback and thrive when he opened the first Macy’s store in 1858 in New York City, which was named R.H. Macy Dry Goods. As this store grew, Macy added more and more departments and used marketing tactics such as the department store Santa Claus gimmick, which proved quite popular. The biggest and most palpable indicator of success for this first, true Macy’s store was evidenced in its move to the Ladies’ Mile, which was a premium shopping district in New York City that was situated on 18th Street and Broadway.

At present, Macy’s is an established mid- to high-range department store in the U.S., and it brings in yearly revenue that exceeds $20 billion. The store chain has become a staple in popular culture with its annual Thanksgiving Day Parade as an annual attraction that draws many people to New York City. This parade has not only given people something to look forward to, but it has also changed lives. While Macy’s is known for its Thanksgiving Day Parade, it also sponsors the Fourth of July fireworks display and has been doing so since 1976. Its future also looks bright as more and more people visit this chain store or hear about it from friends, family and advertising.

While Macy’s is a pioneer in the sector of mid to high-range department store businesses, that has not stopped others from competing with it and even trying to beat what R. H. Macy has accomplished. For instance, Macy’s biggest competitors are Belk, Dillard’s, The Bon-Ton Stores, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom. For example, in the case of Belk, it was founded all the way back in 1888 by a man called William Henry Belk, and even though he tried to expand his store after opening the first Belk store in California, this chain of stores is still only popular throughout the Southern US, today. In the example of Nieman Marcus, its first store was actually opened in Texas in 1907 at a time when stores that sold fine clothing were not common in the state. However, more than 100 years later, Nieman Marcus still only operates 41 stores around the US, while Macy’s has exploded to more than 800 retail stores across the entire country. While stores like Belk and Nieman Marcus have made an impact in the department store world, they still cannot compare to the achievements of R. H. Macy.

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