Rowland Hussey Macy founded Macy's, one of the premier department stores in the U.S., and developed innovative retail ideas that made him a pioneer in the industry. In 1858, Macy opened his first store in New York City, which sold fancy goods, haberdashery, toys and groceries. In 1874, Macy rented space to L. Straus & Son, marking the beginning of the department store model in the U.S. by selling different products under one roof. Macy also came up with ideas like fixed pricing with odd dollar amounts and promotional marketing like using Santa Claus and window displays. He helped grow Macy's into a business with over $1 million in

1. JOUR 535
Yuyuhou Li
Midterm-bio
Rowland Hussey Macy
Rowland Hussey Macy founded the Macy’s, one of premier department stores in the
U.S. and developed it with innovative ideas, which made him a forerunner in the retail
industry.
In 1858, Macy opened the R.H. Macy's store at Sixth Avenue in New York. In this
fancy-goods shop, Macy earned $11.06 on the day of opening. Afterwards, Macy
acquired two small building adjoining his shop and sold haberdashery, toys and
groceries.
The first time in the U.S. that dry goods and house furnishings were sold under one
roof was in 1874, when a young firm L.Straus & son rented space in Macy store for a
display of china, glassware and crockery. This was regarded as the beginning of
department stores in the U.S.
While bargaining was the accepted rule in mercantile life, Macy came up with a
revolutionary idea of fixed prices, in which goods were sold at the same price to every
customer. He also created the custom of pricing in odd figures-$1.98 instead of 2, for

2. instance. This pricing tactic turned out to be a surprising success and was learnt by the
retail industry.
As a marketing genius, Macy developed refreshing marketing strategies. He was the
first use a Santa Claus in store to promote goods during the holidays, and he
originated themed store exhibits and lighted window displays to attract consumers.
Moreover, he launched some unique newspaper advertising campaigns. In the lively
advertisements, he emphasized keywords repeatedly, used bold headlines and quoted
exact prices of items, something none of his competitors had ever done.
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Macy’s innovations went beyond business strategy. He was also the first to promote a
woman executive in retail industry. He nominated Margaret Getchell as store
superintendent in 1866. Getchell had outstanding business sense and helped Macy
figure out what women wanted. Four years after Getchell was promoted, Macy’s
revenue topped $1 million.
Despite his stunning success, Macy went through failures in early years. He opened
four different dry goods stores in Haverhill Massachusetts over the period 1843–1855.
However, they all failed. Before that, he worked on a whaling ship, the Emily Morgan
for four years. During this period of time, he had a red star tattoo on his hand, which
eventually became t Macy’s logo.

3. As the son of a Nantucket-based shopkeeper, Macy was born in 1822. He married
Louisa Houghton in 1844 and had three children. Macy died in Paris in 1877 of
Bright’s disease.
Rowland Hussey is still remembered by people as a business magnate, the founder of
a great company and a pioneer in the retail industry.