Macy's with just 350 stores left in the US. what went wrong??

 In a 40 year span, A ton of regional department stores were once the pride and joy were gone and turned into Macy's but how and why did a premier store which was well known eliminate so many regional chains to become bigger which was their downfall in 2026 as they went from 900 stores to 350. The mergers started in the mid 1980's as the chain rebranded Davidson's in the Atlanta region and Bamberger's which was a tragedy to the tri state area and mid atlantic region. In 1992 Macy's filed for bankruptcy which was resolved by 1994 as they merged with Federated Department Stores which meant changes were going to happen and they did starting in 1995 as they eliminated the Abraham and Straus branding after 130 years. in 1996 Boston's Jordan Marsh all converted to Macy's which was the start. As the turn of the new century started, More chains succumbed into Macy's which was New Jersey's own Stern's and Hawaii's Liberty House. As the early 2000's moved along in 2005 the rest of the Federated family of stores converted which was Seattle's Bon Marche, Florida's Burdine's, Memphis based Goldwater's, Cincinnati based Lazarus and another Atlanta legendary chain Rich's

2006 was another big year for Macy's as they merged with the May Department store family of stores excluding Lord and Taylor which was bought up by Hudson Bay of Canada and later LeTote. Strawbridge's, Filene's, Famous Barr, L.S, Ayres, Foley's, Robinson's May, The Jones Store, Hecht's, Kauffman's and Marshall Field's in which Chicago people protested the merger especially their legacy State Street flagship. With Macy's racking up the new acquisitions, The chain had over 900 stores in the United States after 2006 was it a positive yea maybe so and Macy's became their own company with Bloomingdale's and blue mercury. but trouble was a brewing with the 2008 economy collapse, Malls dying a lot of stores had to close up year after year. Covid 19 pandemic made it worst with more store closures and more mall shutting down for good. The problem and what went wrong was people didn't want a Macy's everywhere and they miss the regional chains that are long gone they had character something that Macy's has lost touch with. the stores are boring, service isnt up to par. 

                       Labor Day ad from Foley's of Houston, Tx before the Macy takeover