Department Stores

Today I spent the day doing a comparative analysis of the different department stores in the city. Department stores began in New York in the mid-1850s to allow shoppers to find a variety of goods at retail price in one location. Department stores typically organize their merchandise into separate departments.

Macy's, Inc. owns the department stores Macy's and Bloomingdale's. As of 2010, according to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (Deloitte), Macy's Inc. is the world's largest fashion goods retailer and the 36th largest retailer overall.

Bloomingdales (59th and Lexington): Bloomingdale's is an upscale chain of department stores owned by Macy's, Inc. Bloomingdales spaces out their merchandise and organizes them by brand.

Macy's (Herald Square): Macy's is a mid-range to upscale chain of department stores owned by Macy's, Inc. Macy's has a variety of merchandise which is more crowded than Bloomingdale's, most likely because they hold more merchandise. Macy's was the most crowded store (both with people and merchandise) that I saw today.

Saks Fifth Avenue (49th and 5th): Saks is an upscale department store chain owned by Saks Incorporated. According to Vida Farwana, Saks' flagship store in midtown is the second visited place in NYC after the Statue of Liberty, therefore many tourists visit the store so the location holds many designers that are well known internationally. Saks caters to upper class working men and women. Saks had the most items on sales racks out of all the department stores that I saw.

Barneys New York (60th and Madison): Barneys is an American chain of luxury department stores that caters to the "shabby chic" market. Barneys has mostly up and coming designers that would not be displayed in the larger department stores such as Bloomingdale's or Macy's.

Bergdorf Goodman (57th and 5th): Bergdorf is a luxury goods department store that caters to households that earn the top 1% of income. There are only two Bergdorf Goodman locations, both in New York. The merchandise is spread out the most of any of the other department stores that I saw.