# @michael-girdley on YouTube

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://youtube.com/watch?v=fIdMGP0UO2Y
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/70398524-michael-girdley-youtube
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/3c11069c10.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-09-10T20:15:38.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Michael Girdley (@michael-girdley) — https://gondola.cc/michael-girdley

## Caption

Thanks to Whop for sponsoring this video → https://whop.com/start/?a=michaelgirdley #whop

Whop brings the pieces of running an internet business together, including your website, products, payments, payouts, customer acquisition, and more. There are no monthly fees, so head to https://whop.com/start/?a=michaelgirdley to create your first business today.

Macy’s went from an $11 opening day in Manhattan to one of America’s most recognizable retailers, eventually generating roughly $28 billion a year in sales. In this business breakdown, I trace the rise and fall of Macy’s, what made the department store model so powerful, and why changing consumer behavior, strategic decisions, and financial engineering left the company struggling to adapt.

Get the 2-minute cheat sheet for this video → https://girdley.com/youtube

👇 SUBSCRIBE for more business breakdowns
https://www.youtube.com/@Michael-Girdley?sub_confirmation=1
► Get my weekly letter to business owners: essential insights to run, grow, and stay ahead in your business → https://links.girdley.com/newsletter-yt
► For sponsorships or inquiries please reach out to: Contact@girdley.com
► Do you have a hat I should wear in a video? Send it to us: Contact@girdley.com
► Free events on all things small business: https://links.girdley.com/lectures-yt
► Deep dives on businesses for sale: https://www.youtube.com/@AcquisitionsAnonymousPodcast
► Follow me on Twitter/X: https://x.com/girdley

Macy’s story starts with Roland Macy, who failed at several ventures before opening R.H. Macy & Co. in Manhattan in 1858. The company embraced ideas that were radical for retail at the time: fixed pricing, a money-back guarantee, cash-only sales, aggressive newspaper advertising, and a huge selection of products under one roof. Over the decades, Macy’s became more than a retailer. Its Manhattan flagship, parade, and role in American culture turned the brand into an institution.

The department store model became especially powerful as America moved to the suburbs and malls became major shopping destinations. Macy’s and other department stores served as anchor tenants, benefiting from favorable rents while generating traffic for the smaller stores around them. Macy’s later pursued scale through consolidation, eventually replacing regional names like Marshall Field’s and Foley’s with the Macy’s brand. That created a national retail giant, but it also sacrificed some of the local loyalty those stores had spent generations building.

Then the economics changed. Mall traffic weakened, e-commerce made shopping dramatically more convenient, and discount retailers attacked department stores from below on price. Macy’s had also spent years leaning into deals, sales, and coupons. That left the company caught in the middle: Amazon and other e-commerce businesses could win on convenience, while discount retailers could compete more aggressively on price.

Financial engineering made those pressures harder to absorb. Macy’s had already endured a debt-heavy leveraged buyout and a 1992 bankruptcy. Decades later, activist investors began arguing that Macy’s real estate could be worth more than the retail business itself. Eventually, real estate investors pursued multibillion-dollar offers to take the company private. The conversation had shifted from how to grow Macy’s to what its underlying assets might be worth.

That’s the bigger business lesson in what happened to Macy’s. There wasn’t one decision that caused its decline. Changing consumer behavior, dying malls, e-commerce, discount competition, brand decisions, debt, and financial engineering accumulated over decades. The contrast with Dillard’s is especially interesting: while Macy’s went through ownership changes and financial maneuvering, Dillard’s remained family-controlled and managed its own decline with far less drama.

## Stats

- **Views:** 449,290
- **Likes:** 6,064
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 1,181

## Tags

whop

---
Copyright (c) Gondola