I was very negative about Macy’s in online posts. I just found out the removed the Macy’s at the Stonestown Galleria and now I am upset. The building used to house The Emporium. That is why it means a lot of me. I could still see traces of The Emporium. I did not my character’s name for my novel or rather online collection of chapters based on the name Macy’s. I wanted to use the name, after over 10 years, my character had no name and was called Agent M, but then (at last) the name Macy came to me. But, there it was nothing to do with the store Macy’s.
I can see the reason Macy’s failed. The prices were too high. The quality was not very good. But, all clothes and things seem to have gone down in quality. The clothes were all very high-priced, unless you could find them on a sale rack. I would sometimes buy clothes there, but I liked Nordstrom better. I could not afford Nordstrom either, but it was more because I was being cheap and not really that I could not afford them. I don’t buy a lot of dress clothes. They have to be dry cleaned and I don’t have the interest in them. I don’t live in San Francisco anymore, but I still go back there to see my rental houses. I had some problem with buying items. I was trying to buy earrings and the clerks would tell me to come back at the sale day and when I did I could not get any clerks attention. I was really upset. I had a charge card, but they placed a block on it. I had an Emporium account, and they had made it turn into Macy’s, but I could not use the charge. Once I bought a blender on that charge, they sent the bill late and charged me double the price of the blender. I had a big fight with them over that, I finally I was able to prevail. But, it was not like the sold items, they sold credit to people, and I was so freaked out by that. I was afraid to have a Macy’s Charge. I mean god knows what they were fixing to charge me. So, there was a lot of bad feelings. I made ranting blogs called “I hate Macy’s,” but I deleted them. At least I hope I did. I am sorry for that. I did not want them to go out of business. I wanted them to improve not die. Why do people get the wrong idea? I complain because I want change, I don’t want to cause harm without change. So, I am sorry Macy’s.
Today 3/20/18 I went to Macy’s in Santa Rosa and I bought an Ottoman. To try and support Macys. The clothes are not my style, but the Ottoman was something I really liked. I had been looking for one like this for two years. It is leather and its white.
I looked up a list of closing stores, why mine? There are lots of other stores to close. I don’t know what will happen to the building now. I missed the closing. I did not know about it. I heard on the News vaguely some Macy’s were closing, but I did not put two and two together.
Here is the Macy’s stores closing list for 2018.
- Laguna Hills Mall, Laguna Hills, CA
- Westside Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA
- Novato (Furniture), Novato, CA
- Stonestown Galleria, San Francisco, CA
- The Oaks, Gainesville, FL
- Miami (Downtown), Miami, FL
- Magic Valley Mall, Twin Falls, ID
- Honey Creek Mall, Terre Haute, IN
- Birchwood Mall, Fort Gratiot Township, MI
- Fountain Place, Cincinnati, OH
- Burlington Town Center, Burlington, VT
I really miss the way department stores were in the 70s and early 80s. I used to go to Department stores as entertainment. I was a kid, I had no money to buy stuff, but I would hang out in the mall at Stonestown. I would go to the book store and read books. I would get an ice cream at Baskin Robins if I had enough money saved up. I would often ride my bike from Park Merced were I lived and go to Stonestown. I would chain the bike to any post I could find. There was a store called Bullocks Department store. The store was located at the opposite side of mall from where Macy’s is now. Macy’s was the Emporium. The Galleria was an outdoor mall, but there was a food court and located at the same end as the Bullocks. They had greasy Chinese food. The food at the food court was terrible, but I would go there sometimes. Bullock’s had a makeup department with natural day light. The makeup was on a bridge to the rest of the mall. All of this has been torn down. There was a clothing store called Judy’s that I really liked in the first part of the Mall near the Bullocks. The Bullocks had a teenaged department with a real jute box, that played popular music for free. I used to play Paul McCartney and Wings. I would select it, and wait for the song. I loved the clothes, but I could not afford them.
Most of my hostility toward Macy was based on how they took away the Emporium from me. The Emporium was my mother’s favorite store. She took me there every weekend, from ages five to ten. Macy’s and the stores that replace the Emporium and Bullocks were not fun places to go. They focused on just selling items, not being a fun experience.
I also loved the makeup at the Emporium. I saved up to buy just one container of Ralph Lauren Lip Gloss. The shade was so perfect, but when I went to buy more Ralph Lauren Make up had gone of business. I could never find such a perfect color ever again.
At Christmas they had rides for children, and a train that would go around the mall.
Woolworth was also there and that was a fun store. I could look there for hours. They had toys and dime store dolls. Woolworth closed and we got Walgreens. Walgreens is strictly for buying items and then leaving at once. No one is encouraged to linger anymore.
All the fun was sucked out of the Stonestown Mall and replaced with commercialism. By 1990, the fun was all gone. I think a new business model for retail stores should focus on making shopping fun again. We can buy things on Amazon, but where do we go for fun? Kids are too young for bars. Drinking is harmful to your health. What if we want a fun place to take the family that is wholesome? There is nothing right now. I hope that changes.
Macy Makes Magic 