The Wake-Up Call That Changed Everything
When Tony Spring took the helm at Macy’s in early 2024, he inherited a retail institution facing existential threats. The iconic department store chain, once the crown jewel of American shopping, had seen sales plummet from $28.1 billion in 2014 to just over $22.3 billion a decade later. Customer service scores had deteriorated year after year, and major brands including Ralph Lauren, Coach, Nike, and Levi’s had begun pulling their products from Macy’s shelves. The situation demanded more than incremental changes—it required a fundamental rethinking of what Macy’s could be in the modern retail landscape.
Spring’s approach represents a dramatic departure from his predecessors’ strategies. “We had to have a moment of reflection and say, ‘We’re not as good as we think we are,'” Spring told Fortune. “We can be proud of Macy’s history, but we can’t be proud of Macy’s current performance.” This willingness to confront uncomfortable truths has become the foundation of what industry observers are calling the most significant turnaround attempt in Macy’s 167-year history.
The Priority Store Strategy: Back to Retail Basics
At the heart of Spring’s plan is what he calls the “priority store” initiative—125 locations receiving disproportionate investment in staffing, visual merchandising, and customer experience. The changes are immediately noticeable to shoppers: doubled staffing in women’s shoe departments, triple the personnel in dresses areas, elegantly styled mannequins, and even live attendants in fitting rooms—a service that had disappeared from many locations.
Neil Saunders, Managing Director of GlobalData and once one of Macy’s harshest critics, recently toured one of these revitalized stores and came away impressed. “Their merchandising is sharper,” Saunders noted. “There is greater neatness on the shop floor. They’re starting to elevate the shopping experience.” Perhaps most telling was Spring’s willingness to personally walk Saunders through the improvements—demonstrating the new CEO’s openness to criticism that had been notably absent in previous leadership.
This renewed focus on retail fundamentals comes as other sectors are experiencing their own transformations. Just as Macy’s revival strategy shows early promise, we’re seeing similar strategic pivots across industries facing disruption.
Confronting Decades of Structural Challenges
Macy’s current predicament stems from decisions made over many years. The 2006 mega-merger that saw Macy’s absorb several regional chains created a “Frankenstein behemoth” with too many stores clustered together, cannibalizing each other’s customer base. The bureaucracy swelled, and the individuality of the acquired regional chains faded. “They didn’t ever manage to create one unifying culture from all these parts they mushed together,” observed Kathy Gersch, president of consulting firm Kotter International.
Throughout the 2010s, Macy’s continued to grow primarily because competitors like Sears and JCPenney were imploding faster. But these gains masked fundamental problems. The rise of Amazon, T.J. Maxx, and Ulta Beauty eroded Macy’s market share from multiple directions. As business tightened, Macy’s cut costs—creating a vicious cycle that undermined the service standards and pleasant atmosphere needed to justify department store prices.
Some of the cost-cutting measures proved particularly damaging. The shift to self-service “open-sell” footwear sections alienated customers who expected service commensurate with department store prices. “If you want open sell, you can go to TJ Maxx,” Saunders bluntly stated. Similarly, overcrowded selling floors created a cluttered, clearance-store appearance that made visual storytelling impossible.
The Cultural Reset: From Transactional to Transformational
Spring recognized that operational changes alone wouldn’t suffice—Macy’s needed a cultural transformation. The workforce had been battered by years of falling revenue, store closings, and staff reductions. Inspiring this team and securing their buy-in became Spring’s first priority.
His background in hospitality—studying hotel and restaurant management before starting at Bloomingdale’s as a management trainee in 1987—informs his approach. Spring wants store workers to feel their job is about more than folding clothes and manning cash registers. He aims to inject the shopping experience with “romance and theater,” arguing that this endeavor can make jobs more fun and fulfilling: “We’re all driven by psychic reward.”
This cultural shift extends to how Macy’s approaches customer interactions. Spring recalls an incident from a decade ago when a shopper complained that staff would ask “how are you?” but never wait for the answer. “It was a good reminder that we were so focused on training people to say the line, that we forgot to explain to people why,” Spring reflected. The ‘why’ is that genuine engagement makes interactions feel less transactional and provides insights into customer needs.
Such cultural transformations often require significant investment, not unlike the $16 billion expansion we’re seeing in technology infrastructure to support emerging capabilities.
Early Signs of Success and Remaining Challenges
The initial results suggest Spring’s strategy might be working. Macy’s recently reported its best comparable sales performance in 12 quarters, with sales rising 1.1% year-over-year. While modest, this represents a victory at a time when shoppers are hamstrung by economic anxiety. The improvement has sparked hope that after years of decline, Macy’s may have found a viable path forward.
Spring has also made progress in rebuilding relationships with brands. In a significant coup, Abercrombie & Fitch’s children’s business began selling its products at Macy’s in July. Other recently added brands include Reiss, Good American, and Theory. Spring is betting he can convince other important partners to return to the Macy’s stores they abandoned.
Nevertheless, significant challenges remain. Wall Street continues to keep Macy’s on a tight leash regarding expenses. The company plans to reduce its footprint from 449 locations to approximately 350, including the 125 priority stores. This downsizing reflects broader market trends affecting numerous retail sectors where strategic repositioning has become essential for survival.
The Road Ahead: Balancing Heritage and Innovation
Macy’s benefits from a huge reservoir of goodwill among its 40 million annual customers, many of whom cherish childhood memories of visiting the department store for graduation outfits or holiday visits with Santa. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade remains an iconic American tradition that cement’s the brand’s cultural relevance.
Spring’s challenge is to leverage this heritage while implementing necessary changes. His strategy aims for a Macy’s with fewer but more appealing stores, complemented by e-commerce. The approach acknowledges that while many associate Macy’s with its Manhattan flagship, the company has primarily been a mall-based department store chain—a format consumers have been shifting away from since the 1990s.
The turnaround journey mirrors infrastructure developments in other sectors, such as the major water reservoir project advancing in Canterbury, where foundational improvements are creating more resilient systems. Similarly, technology upgrades like the Windows 11 25H2 release demonstrate how established platforms must evolve to meet contemporary demands.
Spring is quick to acknowledge that Macy’s still has much to prove. But for the first time in years, there’s genuine optimism about the company’s direction. The cultural reset, focus on retail fundamentals, and willingness to make tough decisions about the store portfolio have created momentum that previous turnaround attempts lacked.
As Macy’s works to reinvent itself, it’s worth noting that such transformations often parallel developments in other industries. The water security revolution in Canterbury shows how strategic infrastructure investments can reshape future prospects, while technological innovations in consumer electronics demonstrate the importance of continuous improvement in competitive markets.
What makes Spring’s approach different is its recognition that in retail, as in many sectors, lasting success comes not from chasing the latest trends but from excellence in fundamentals. For Macy’s, the path forward means becoming the department store it always claimed to be—a place where service, presentation, and experience justify the premium over discounters and online alternatives. The early results suggest this back-to-basics approach might just be the foundation for one of retail’s most remarkable turnaround stories.
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