CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — The plush Macy’s that opens here today draws many of its merchandising gambits from Macy’s famed Herald Square flagship in New York and is intended to be a testing ground for fashion-forward labels.
If the brands fare well in Chestnut Hill, they will be rolled out across the U.S. — the store has been designed to be among the top tier of Macy’s doors nationwide. About a half-dozen lines are carried only here and at Herald Square, and an equal number of brands, ranging from Trina Turk handbags to Philosophy body care, are only sold here for Macy’s East. A $27,000 aquamarine necklace in fine jewelry is among the exclusives.
“We’ve positioned this as a very select store with the ‘better’ and ‘best’ focus for the assortment,” said Gary Conroy, who oversees 15 Macy’s stores throughout New England. “This [area] has some of the best demographics in the country.”
He declined to give sales projections, but is anticipating particular strength in ready-to-wear and shoes.
The 120,000-square-foot store occupies a former Bloomingdale’s in The Chestnut Hill Shopping Center, located in a tony village carved out of Newton and Boston and located about 7 miles west of downtown. In November, Bloomingdale’s leapfrogged about a mile to a former Filene’s store in The Mall at Chestnut Hill, a separate complex where the upscale department store chain also operates a home and men’s store. Market sources told WWD the two Bloomingdale’s units are expected to generate about $110 million annually.
Both The Chestnut Hill Shopping Center and The Mall at Chestnut Hill are part of a chain of productive retailers on Route 9, an east-west corridor that serves the city and affluent communities such as Newton, Brookline, Wellesley and Natick. Bloomingdale’s sells more designer sportswear in Chestnut Hill than it does anywhere outside its Manhattan flagship.
Macy’s intends to work in tandem with Bloomingdale’s, serving aspirational younger customers and misses’ shoppers with designer taste, but a bridge budget. Where Bloomingdale’s carries Missoni and Tory Burch, for example, Macy’s carries Magaschoni and Tufi Duek.
Conroy said there is less than 5 percent overlap in vendors and that careful attention is paid to making sure both Federated properties operate in their respective “lanes.”
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“We watch very carefully what our friends are doing up on the hill,” said Conroy, referring to Bloomingdale’s. “We think, for example, college students might better be able to shop here than Bloomingdale’s.”
The Chestnut Hill Macy’s has a fur salon, a hair salon, a personal shopping service (Macy’s By Appointment) and a mandate to wrap purchases in tissue capped with a gold-foil seal.
The energy is young, but in a 13-going-on-30 way. The store is courting younger shoppers, and this is for the set that carries a $350 Coach bag to high school, who prefers contemporary brands to junior labels.
Betsey Johnson jewelry, for example, is arrayed in a lighted glass vitrine, and flat-screen TVs hang near white leather couches in the dressing room foyers. In fact, the junior, children’s and home departments have been eliminated and the space has been reallocated to sportswear and accessories.
The store is testing shiny garment racks on large casters as new fixtures in its Impulse contemporary department, which is on the second floor. The department carries Twinkle by Wenlan, Scrapbook and other up-and-coming resources.
The bridge department on the second floor is also a major focus and has been remodeled into a series of shop-in-shops with limestone walls and flooring in a taupe, black, honey and ivory scheme with an occasional flash from a stainless steel-clad column.