http://www.plainvanillashell.com/article.asp?ID=11291

The damage is done nonetheless.

I do realize that The Bon-Ton owns all of those nameplates that you mentioned. However, the corporate headquarters is in York, PA. Among stores that just go under “The Bon-Ton” nameplate, the vast majority of them are located either in PA or upstate NY.

And Dillard’s has a store in the very huge Natick Collection.

Although its been nearly two years, so many vacancies caused by the Federated/May merger still have not been filled. Certainly, one of the most surprising vacancies is the former Filene’s location in the Danbury Fair Mall. However, without a doubt, the most shocking vacancy is the former Strawbridge’s location at the Plaza at King of Prussia. Honestly, I thought that Boscov’s would have taken over that location by now. (The fact that they have not indicates that Boscov’s will probably never come to that mall.) I also think that the vacant King of Prussia spot would be a good place for either The Bon-Ton (a local PA-based chain) or Dillard’s (which currently has no locations in the northeast). Yet, these chains also have not expressed interest.

The 2 stores in my city that Macy’s bought is not THAT bad. There is hardly any major difference that I can see. And they send a lot of coupons in the mail and have 10% fridays every so often if you use your Macy’s card.

No one is forcing any of you to shop there. Ultimately the free market will decide if Macy’s survives. If the company is able to provide quality products, good service and reasonable prices, people will continue to shop there and they will survive for many years to come. And if the stores are as bad as you all say, people will stop shopping there and they will go out of business. And don’t say that just because they have over 800 stores now after acquiring May Co that they have no competition. There is still plenty other department stores to choose from: Dillards, JCPenney, Sears, Mervyns, The Bon Ton Stores, Belk, Kohls, Lord & Taylor, Stage and Bocovs. The higher end department stores as well like Nordstroms, Neimen Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Von Maur and even there on Bloomingdale division are more competation. And other specialty houseware stores that sell some of there other products like Bed Bath & Beyond & LinenNThings. Not to mention that most Macy’s are connected to a mall or lifestyle center filled with many stores selling a lot of the same merchandise.

Look how many regional department stores Dillards acquired in there expansion from the 70’s through the early 90’s. The transitions were probably filled with problems for the first few years with selling and trading stores in overlapping malls, and closing underperforming or older stores, especially when they acquired the Mercantile Stores in 1998. But eventually they emerged from these problems and the same thing is going to happen to Macy’s. Some store closures were bound to happen. Dillards closed 3 underperforming stores either early 2007 or late 2006, but they have plans for opening of new stores too. Just give Macy’s a chance. GEESH!!!