The world’s largest department store will unveil today the latest phase of its reimagined flagship, part of its massive four-year, $400 million storewide renovation, bringing the total square footage to 1.2 million.

So far, the master plan for the flagship has included building hulking, multilevel luxury shops for Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Burburry and Longchamps on the Broadway side’s main floor; relocating fine jewelry to a new space and creating what Macy’s calls the world’s largest shoe floor, encompassing more than 63,000 square feet and featuring over a quarter-million pairs of shoes. Also on the main floor and mezzanine, cosmetics, women’s fragrances, handbags and fashion accessories have been overhauled. Men’s traditional collections and sportswear on the second floor were redone, and men’s suits and collections on the fifth floor received the once-over. Women’s coats and swimwear moved to the eighth floor from the seventh, and the 34th Street, Memorial and Seventh Avenue men’s entrances were restored.

“Our goal is for Macy’s Herald Square to be not just the largest store but the most exciting, most innovative and most technologically advanced fashion destination in the world,” said Terry Lundgren, chairman and chief executive officer of Macy’s Inc.

Still to come under the knife in 2014 are the seventh-floor children’s department and eighth-floor housewares and home decor. Work will begin next year on the third-floor women’s ready-to-wear and Impulse collections, sixth-floor women’s dress and suit collections, and seventh-floor bridal and Macy’s Fur Vault.

Throughout the project, the goal has been to give more space to the biggest brands, a strategy that has involved weeding out some lesser players and elevating the shopping experience with upscale fixtures and materials and better service.

One of the key features of the renovation has been to create clearer sight lines on floors that were a jumble of brands. “We had an aisle pattern that zigged and zagged,” said Tim Baxter, executive vice president and general merchandise manager of women’s ready-to-wear, standing on the fourth floor, where the store’s Broadway windows are visible for the first time, having been hidden for years in a stock room.

From that stock room, Macy’s carved out an 8,000-square-foot Tommy Hilfiger shop whose shallow space extends from West 34th Street to West 35th Street. In addition to selling Hilfiger’s collection, which is exclusive to Macy’s, the shop features selections from the designer’s global sportswear line. “There’s the seamless integration of center-core accessories,” Baxter said, pointing to handbags.

“It took me a lot to sell Tommy on the space,” said Baxter, adding that the former stock-room space felt like the back of the store.

On closer inspection, however, Hilfiger saw an American flag flapping outside one of the windows and the Empire State Building, which is visible if you crane your neck. Hilfiger brought residential touches to the space, such as a fireplace and a seating area with a black tufted sofa, smoked-glass coffee table and black velvet chairs. A gold motorcycle is parked inside the shop under a brass-trimmed glass entry.

Gary Sheinbaum, ceo of Tommy Hilfiger, Americas, said, “The expanded dedicated women’s sportswear store underscores our continued focus on our women’s business globally, and the shop-in-shop’s iconic views of the Empire State Building, Broadway and Herald Square bring Tommy Hilfiger’s New York roots and all-American heritage to life.”

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At the opposite end of the floor, an escalator deposits shoppers in front of an 8,000-square-foot Lauren by Ralph Lauren shop, the biggest in the world, according to Baxter. “It’s one of our premiere and very powerful brands,” Baxter said, noting that the shop has many of the accoutrements found in a Ralph Lauren boutique, such as herringbone-pattern wood floors, sisal carpets, leather ottomans and framed equestrian art. Within the shop are private fitting rooms that are separate from the fourth floor’s complex, which features a lounge and 20 rooms equipped with lighting that changes from outdoor to daylight to dinner light at the touch of a button.

Baxter said Macy’s was careful to give both Hilfiger and Lauren about the same amount of space. “There’s always a healthy competitive spirit between those two brands,” he said. “Our customer loves both brands. We flanked our floor with our two most powerful brands. They are the two biggest brands on the floor.”

That being said, other brands have expanded presentations, as well, including Eileen Fisher, whose shop represents the designer’s latest concept. “With 30,000 people coming through on a regular day, the impact of having a brand in the building is incredible,” Baxter said. “We did weed out brands. There are new additions. We weeded out some brands when we moved things to other floors to make room on four. We did have to edit things.”

Ralph Lauren Denim & Supply, another exclusive brand, takes up about half a city block in a space specifically designed to be shallow, “so the product is king,” Baxter said. Distressed wood floors, a graffitied whitewashed brick wall, pressed tin ceilings and klieg lights combine with found objects and a paint-splattered ladder used to display scarves.

Shops for DKNY, Levi’s and Calvin Klein Jeans lead to a premium denim area, flanked by mannequin legs and busts. “We have not had premium denim in Herald Square until this point because, quite honestly, we didn’t have the environment for it,” Baxter said. “Previously, we were so dense.”

Glass walls with shelves of jeans define the area, which features Joe’s Jeans, Free People, Kind Of, DL and Citizens of Humanity.

Free People is a new brand to Herald Square. “It represents a lifestyle,” Baxter said. “Across the way is Maison Jules, a private brand, and the Lucky shop.”

Throughout the store, Macy’s has upgraded visual presentation. The flagship has “substantially more mannequins,” Baxter said. “One thing our customer loves is seeing how it’s put together. I can prove that when something is on a mannequin, it sells better.” The cross spaces between shops are devoted to displays of more than a dozen mannequins, and there are more video screens in the store, to create energy. Prominent directional, or “way-finding,” signage points the way to escalators and fitting rooms.

Men’s wear expanded to seven floors from five and added 50,000 square feet, bringing its total size to 180,000 square feet.

The latest phase of the project was completed last week, when the lower-level furnishings and accessories department and the fifth-floor clothing department were unveiled. Over the summer, a new activewear department opened on the fourth floor. All that remains to be completed are the two sportswear floors, on one and a half and three, in October and June, respectively. The department on the one-and-a-half floor will house modern collections, while the third floor will be home to denim and related products targeted to Millennials.

“We’re 75 percent done,” said Richard Arnstein, Macy’s executive vice president and general merchandise manager of men’s wear. “Five of the seven floors are complete.”

Throughout the men’s department, located on the Seventh Avenue side of the building, the lighting and displays have been updated to create a bright, more modern aesthetic. “We love the feel and the lighting,” he said. “Everything is clearly defined.”

The fifth floor is the new home for clothing and related classifications, housed in a design accented by wood paneling, bronze metallic details and modern flooring. The big additions here are a tuxedo shop and a designated made-to-measure area, which is being handled by Hart Schaffner Marx. “We’ve expanded the assortment and the price points with upgraded swatches and more quality goods,” Arnstein said. Among the brands highlighted are Hugo Boss, Lauren, Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger, DKNY, Kenneth Cole and the new Ryan Seacrest Distinction label, which launched in September and is exclusive. Contemporary brands also have been beefed up with the addition of English Laundry and Theory.

The floor also includes a classifications department, which has a special area devoted to topcoats and other outerwear brands, including coats from Nautica, Kenneth Cole, Andrew Marc, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. There is an expanded assortment of sport coats and a separate Dockers shop.

Arnstein said that, when the renovation is finally completed, it will “create an experience for the male shopper [unlike any other] with this breadth of assortment in one place.” He observed that men’s continues to do well at the Herald Square flagship, saying, “Every time we open a new floor, it exceeds our expectations.”

Macy’s men’s business, lumped together with children’s, represented 23 percent of Macy’s $28 billion in sales for fiscal 2013.

The lower level is home to the red-hot accessories and basic furnishings category. A cornerstone of the department is a 2,300-square-foot Calvin Klein Underwear shop — the largest in the world. It offers a full range of the brand’s underwear, including the new Power Red collection, along with Ts, tanks and loungewear. The space features the label’s signature black-and-white color scheme, large LED screens, steel hanging bars and matte anthracite bust forms.

Polo Ralph Lauren, Under Armour, Hugo Boss and Lauren also have shops for underwear and loungewear within the new space, as does 2(x)ist, Diesel, Emporio Armani, Tommy Hilfiger and Jockey.

Accessories is a key category. To capitalize on the trend, Macy’s has installed “a street of accessories shops” for Jack Spade, Ted Baker, Michael Kors and Cole Haan, as well as an outpost for Sunglass Hut eyewear. There is a “little haberdashery” section, which highlights bags and small leather goods, and a section for hosiery, belts and wallets, merchandised as classifications. “But we’re also cross-classifying them to create an environment,” he said.

On the fourth floor, men’s shoes have a new home, with new brands merchandised in “lifestyle zones,” Arnstein said. Marble, walnut and bronze serve to update the look of the department, which employs mobile point-of-sale technology to better serve customers. Bally, Bruno Magli, Cole Haan, Donald J. Pliner, Hugo Boss, Mezlan and Polo join new additions that include Roberto Cavalli, Frye, John Galliano, and A. Testoni.

The shoes are segmented to target Millennials, designer and classic styles, and there’s a leased shop for athletic footwear with Finish Line. That segues into the new athletic department, with shops for Nike, Under Armour, Puma, The North Face, Adidas and Locker Room by Lids. With the exception of Lids, there aren’t too many new brands. Arnstein said the store was able to “round out the assortments. Now, we have the space to do special things.” Running, in particular, is an area of focus. Sporting apparel previously was housed in the Macy’s Sport section on the lower level. This new floor opened in July and, since then, “results have been tremendous,” he said.

To attract the active customer, the area has exposed piping on the ceilings, and, throughout the department, Macy’s has installed TVs that play sports programming. The fitting rooms have been designed to look like locker rooms and showcase some vintage catchers’ masks in the waiting area.

Activewear is a major part of the new eighth-floor offering. A new Nike Training Club concept shop is a key element of the redo. The shop, coupled with a Nike Training Club app, will provide classes led by Nike-certified trainers. “The Training Club is a new concept for Nike,” Baxter said. “It’s exclusive to Macy’s. We’ll also have regular Nike-sponsored events.” Nike also will offer expanded services, such as bra fitting and pant hemming. “We left a lot of space at the top of the elevators for new ideas and trends,” Baxter said. “We launched Soybu. We’re consistently going to be delivering new here. This space will feature new brands and new trends.”

Opposite is a new food concept that offers cold-pressed juice, healthy salads and desserts. “Here you are in activewear — what better thing to have,” Baxter said.

Along with activewear, the eighth floor features a “powerhouse” coat assortment, including Helly Hansen, Weatherproof and one of the biggest North Face presentations in any department store.

“This will become an incredible swim department in the summer,” Baxter said.