One of them was the original Macy's store in downtown Haverhill, Massachusetts; it opened in 1851 to serve the mill industry employees of the area.

[17] The original Broadway store was designed by architects De Lemos & Cordes, was built in 1901–02 by the Fuller Company and has a Palladian facade, but has been updated in many details.

[16][18] In 2012, Macy's began the first full renovation of the iconic Herald Square flagship store at a reported cost of $400 million.

In 1986 Edward Finkelstein, Chairman & CEO of R. H. Macy & Co., Inc., led a leveraged buy-out of the company and subsequently engaged in a takeover battle for Federated Department Stores, Inc., in 1988 that he lost to Canada's Campeau Corporation.

Federated promptly shut down the remainder of the I. Magnin chain, converting several to Macy's or Bullock's and selling four in Carmel, Beverly Hills, San Diego and Phoenix to Saks Fifth Avenue.

In 2001 Federated dissolved its Stern's division in the New York metropolitan area, with the bulk of the stores being absorbed into Macy's East.

[33] Additionally, in July 2001, it acquired the Liberty House chain with department and specialty stores in Hawaii and Guam, consolidating it with Macy's West.

The original Macy's Lenox Square and Perimeter Mall locations were extensively remodeled and opened in October 2003 as the first Bloomingdale's stores in Atlanta.

The company rapidly followed suit in May 2003 with similar rebranding announcements for its other nameplates, Burdines in Florida, Goldsmith's in Memphis, Lazarus in the lower Midwest, and The Bon Marché in the Pacific Northwest.

[36] This included Kaufmann's, Famous-Barr, Filene's, Foley's, Hecht's, The Jones Store, L. S. Ayres, Meier & Frank, Robinsons-May, and Strawbridge & Clothier chains, pending approval of the merger by federal regulators.

The renaming of Filene's, Marshall Field's, and Kaufmann's, which were well known for their downtown flagship stores and local traditions provoked the most outrage.

Prominent film critic Roger Ebert voiced the grief of many Chicagoans at the loss of Field's when he wrote in his column on September 21, 2005: I thought the day would never come.

To promote its largest and most recent expansion, Macy's used a version of the Martha and the Vandellas hit song, "Dancing in the Street", in its advertising.

Nearly two years prior to the first episode, one of the first national commercials for Macy's had aired during Desperate Housewives, shortly after the conversions of Rich's, Lazarus, Goldsmith's, The Bon Marché and Burdines.

[45] Lifestyle stores feature Starbucks Coffee Cafés with wireless web and fitting rooms designed to feel like lounges with sofas and Plasma TVs.

[46][47] On October 28, 2014 Macy's, Inc. announced an extension of the lease-operation agreement with Al Tayer Group LLC that would bring the first Macy's store overseas to Abu Dhabi, anchoring a new mall with its corporate-sister Bloomingdale's, which will open its second overseas store (the first was located at the Dubai Mall); both are slated to open in 2018.

[52] In May 2015, Macy's joined the new American Express-backed Plenti rewards card, which it shares with AT&T Mobility, Direct Energy, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, ExxonMobil, Hulu, Nationwide Insurance, and Rite Aid.

[61] In February 2017, the Hudson's Bay Company made an overture to Macy's for a potential takeover of the struggling department store.

[67] In November 2018, Macy's announced they would test smaller "neighborhood" stores to reduce costs and promote innovation within the customer experience realm.

[1] JANA Partners, an activist investment firm, disclosed a large stake in Macy's in 2021, and sent a letter to the board recommending spinning off the company's online business.

[77] In November 2021, Macy's announced they were starting a free education program and boosting its corporation base salary to $15 per hour.

[79] On the morning of December 4, 2023, a stabbing occurred at Macy's Flagship store in Philadelphia, killing 27-year-old security guard Eric Harrison.

In July 2003, then–New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer launched an investigation of the private policing system Macy's has used to deal with suspected shoplifters.

The investigation was prompted by a civil rights lawsuit and an article in The New York Times, which reported on many of Macy's tactics, including private jails and interrogations.

In 2005, Macy's settled the civil rights complaint for $600,000 (equivalent to $936,037 in 2025), claiming to have put the illegal tactics to an end while maintaining the security system itself.

The removal was apparently in response to pressure from MassResistance, a local group opposed to same-sex marriage, whose members complained the mannequins were "homosexual".

The removal of the mannequins was controversial and Boston mayor Thomas Menino was quoted as saying: I'm very surprised that Macy's would bend to that type of pressure.

Klein's description of the incident as "an internal breakdown in communication", further stated it was regrettable some would doubt Macy's commitment to diversity as a result.

[98] In 2018, Macy's paid $75,000 to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for allegedly firing an asthmatic employee rather than excusing a one day, health-related absence.

[99] In 2024, the company announced a delay to their third quarter earnings release and conference call citing an employee's scheme to hide approximately $132-155mm of expenses, for no supposed reason.