Reversing Field, Macy's Goes Local†

Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2008 — The sprawling Macy's on State Street building here was once the home to the premier name in Chicago retailing, Marshall Field's. But about a year and a half ago, Macy's forged one chain with one name and one much-ballyhooed national strategy out of Marshall Field's, Robinsons-May, Kaufmann's and other local icons it owned across the country.

Now, after Macy Inc.'s same-store sales dropped 1.3% in 2007 from the previous year, Chief Executive Officer Terry Lundgren is changing course. He is ditching the nationwide cookie-cutter approach in favor of tailoring merchandise at the world's largest department-store chain by sales to local tastes.