Macy's fades to black.

[partylessinOhio]

From today's Cleveland Plain Dealer, Sunday, July 22:

Macy's goes to black dress code:

Employees at Macy's Midwest stores, including 14 in Northeast Ohio, will be required to wear all black starting September 4 to make it easier for shoppers to identify workers. Employees will be required to wear "professional attire" that is all black with no pattern or design, such as slacks and a shirt, blouse or sweater.

Searching the net I found this additional information:

Macy's dress code goes black in Midwest
Cincinnati Business Courier -
2:22 PM EDT Wednesday, July 18, 2007
by Christopher TrittoCourier Contributor


Macy's Midwest division will implement a black clothing dress code for its employees beginning Sept. 4 at all 113 of its regional stores, including its Tri-State stores. ...

Executives at each of Macy's regional divisions make dress code decisions, said Nathan Shore, spokesman for St. Louis-headquartered Macy's Midwest. The company will offer employees "deep discounts" to help them convert their wardrobe.

Women will be required to wear a black suit, but may wear any color top underneath, Shore said. Men must wear black suits but may wear any color shirt and tie. Shoes and accessories may also be in any color. The dress code will apply to seasonal employees as well as regular full- and part-time Macy's associates.

"Overall the dress code has been well received in other markets," Shore said. "Customers are sharing that it's easier to spot associates in the store. They've also commented that it looks very fashionable. Associates have said that it takes the guesswork out of dressing for work, and they can still express their individuality through shoes and accessories."

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2007/07/16/daily37.html?from_rss=1

I have never had difficulty determining who was staff in a department store even though they were not in uniform. This seems a bit Victorian to me.

[aquart]

1. In New York, it won't make them easier to spot.

Only in the rest of the country where people wear... (shudder)...pastels.

[JerseygirlCT]

4. LOL, I was thinking the same thing! nt

[Nite Owl]

6. That was my first thought too!

Shoppers and the sellers will all look the same now. lol

[AndyTiedye]

18. It Would be No Help At All in San Francisco

[SeattleGirl]

19. Hell, if they do that at the Macy's here, I'll be mistaken for an employee.

I often wear all black.

Funny thing is, I worked at Macy's in Eugene (when it was still The Bon) for years. :)

[InvisibleTouch]

2. I would have at least selected a different color. n/t

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. They damn well better give employees deep discounts....

Women's suits are not inexpensive. I haven't stepped into a Marshall Field's store since Macy's took over.

It does sound Victorian.

[flamingyouth]

5. I don't shop there either.

My mom likes their stuff but that store hasn't appealed to me since I had a huge knock-down, drag-out with their credit department about 10 years ago.

As a sidenote, they do give a good discount to their employees, I think. Of course, they should. A friend of mine worked there for a few years and hated the hell out of it.

[greatauntoftriplets]

9. I've read that the Macy's stores in Chicago are seeing their sales fall...

Apparently there are a lot of us out there who refuse to shop there. The name "Marshall Field" really meant something to Chicago.

[madrchsod]

12. yup- sales have fallen and i recently read

where the chocolate may come back and they are trying to figure out how to restore profits...good luck new yorkers...

[aquart]

13. One of the stupidest corporate decisions on the planet.

Right up there with New Coke.

[femmocrat]

36. Likewise in Pittsburgh. Old loyalty to Kaufmann's dies hard.

Macy's is too expensive and their merchandise isn't as familiar to Pittsburgh area shoppers. We miss our old brands, coupons, and real clearance sales.

[marmar]

42. And like me, a lot of people just preferred Marshall Field's....

which we in Michigan adjusted to after they changed the Hudson's name to Marshall Fields (It was the same store essentially anyway). I much preferred the Marshall Field in-house Field Gear brand to that Inc. and Club Room crap at Macy's, and Marshall Fields offered more than the two color schemes - black and beige - that are available at Macy's.

[Akoto]

7. Macy's, home of the Sith wardrobe.

[bemildred]

8. Sounds like Iran.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2926177

[madrchsod]

10. von maur stores in the midwest has this ------

"Von Maur has a very strict dress code for its employees both in its stores, and at their corporate headquarters. Women must wear skirts, even in winter, and men must wear ties. They do not require their employees to wear nametags, as they believe that it "cheapens their appearances". Employees working in the corporate headquarters are forbidden from keeping any personal objects (picture frames, etc) on their desks. Managers and salaried employees are discouraged from eating lunch with hourly employees in the corporate dining room."


old fashioned? check this....

"There are no monthly or annual fees on one's account with Von Maur, always a flexible payment schedule, and there are no interest charges on the account; certainly a business practice long since retired elsewhere."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Maur
Von Maur - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Left Is Write]

24. My mother-in-law loves Von Maur, and she says that the personalized service

is very "old-fashioned department store."

I miss the old-fashioned department store.

[Swamp Rat]

11. Shoplifters thank them very very very much.

:)

[DeSwiss]

14. LOL!!!

I was thinking the exact same thing. :D

[Swamp Rat]

15. Macy's is 'stoopid'

really really

[Bluebear]

21. .

[mr_hat]

16. Wearing black quickly identifies the wearer as a minion these days.

I work as a writer/producer and am increasingly required to wear black when I'm shooting at events where celebrities are present. Security guys are in black, bus boys are in black, waiters are in black...

Less taxing on the celeb's and their people that way.

[AngryOldDem]

17. How about just making them stand near their cash register stations?

When they're nowhere to be found, regardless of what they're wearing, THAT'S what pisses me off. I had to go to THREE stations at a Macy's one time, just to buy a pair of fucking pantyhose.

And it's not just Macy's where this has happened. When you practically have to stand on the counter and wave your cash or credit card while screaming, "I want to buy something!" then there's your problem -- not what the employees are wearing.

But I hope Macy's gives its workers a uniform allowance to pay for these clothes.

[xchrom]

22. i don't have a problem with the black uniform -- BUT you're

spot on regarding someone manning the till.

too often there is nobody at the cash register.

and another thing -- i have been to several different macy's stores in different states lately -- and they don't have enough people working in kids shoes, damn it!

[LibDemAlways]

29. A year ago Macy's bought up the Robinson-May chain.

I still have a balance on my Robinson-May charge that I've been paying down. Last month I decided to make a payment while in the Macy's store. The clerk in the giftwrap/credit dept. couldn't locate the account and sent me to a "courtesy phone" near the elevator to speak with corporate "credit." The person on the phone located the account but said for security reasons she couldn't give me the number and told me to tell the clerk to call her back. I went back to the clerk who then had to call the credit dept. herself, and, after a long wait and a lengthy conversation, the account was finally located. This whole runaround took 40 minutes.

Then I went downstairs to buy a couple of pairs of shorts for my daughter. We finally located a register with only two people in line ahead of us. Unfortunately the clerk was brand new. It was her first day, and she had been left alone with no training. She rang up one item for the customer in front of me twice and couldn't figure out how to undo the error. She ended up ringing it up again. Then she went to remove the security tag from a blouse and ripped it in the process. By the time she got around to me, another half hour had elapsed.

The so-called "service" is just pathetic. And they have a monopoly around here. They bought up all four anchor stores at the mall. It just sucks.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

30. They bought Foley's in Texas which started in Houston.

Joske's was eaten by Dillards. Joske's started in San Antonio.

We had two family owned chains in Houston:Foley Bros. and Sakowitz Bros.

Sakowitz sold out a long time ago and disappeared.

Battelstein's was another quality store, like Sakowitz. They got sold to Beall's which is crap.

We still got Needless Markup, but they got eaten by some chain too. They started in Dallas.

Frost Bros. started in San Antonio. They ate one Battelstein's store and then disappeared.

[femmocrat]

37. And then they have the nerve to ask us ...

to contact the email address on the bottom of the receipt to comment on their "service." Yeah right, like I'm going to waste more time doing that.

[LibDemAlways]

41. The clerks at my local store are trained to say, "If you receive

a survey over the phone or by e-mail asking you to comment on our service, please respond that it was outstanding."

My answer is always the same: "If they ask (they never have), I'll tell them the truth."

[borlis]

38. I worked there until yesterday.

Sorry, not allowed to stand by the registers if no customers are there. Managers catch you doing this and scold you. I agree you shouldn't have to go to 3 different areas to pay, but at the store I was employed at, they are cutting way down on hours and really spreading the help too thin. In my department, sometimes we would just have one person for the whole area including being responsible for cleaning out fitting rooms and ringing up customers. If someone actually needed help on the sales floor, you don't have time to help them! If you are putting clothes away on the other side of the department, you can't even see the registers so you don't have a clue if someone is waiting there. BTW, we also had to pick up all the clothes people carelessly knock off hangers and just walk away from. They just don't have enough help for the job that is expected.

Our discount is 25% on apparel.

[Nikia]

20. Good. For me, I have avoided wearing fashionable dress clothes

While shopping after repeatedly being mistaken for a store employee at multiple clothing and department stores. I personally think having salespeople wear the same clothing is a good idea.
Many stores have uniforms. A friend who applied at Victoria Secret's said that they also have a dress code centered around black.

[Left Is Write]

27. So does MAC.

[Bluebear]

23. Well, that will promote a cheery shopping atmosphere~! nt

[LibDemAlways]

25. When the mall in this area opened 25 years ago there were

four anchor department stores. Now there is only 1 - Macys. They bought up all four. Their merchandise sucks. Poor selection. High prices. Guess that's what happens when you buy out the competition. You don't have to try very hard. And they don't.

Around here the "sales associates" are mostly older women looking to help make ends meet. Doubt they have much in the way of $$ to spend on a "professional" wardrobe, and the average Southern Calif. shopper, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, probably couldn't care less how the sales clerks dress. That dress code would never go over here.

[Toasterlad]

26. They'll All Look So Slim!

[KoKo]

28. I was in "Macy's" that took over our local Hect's Dept. Store and the merchandise was CRAP!

Looked like stuff that I donated to our Thrift Shop and the floors (where there was carpet) hadn't been vacuumed since opening...with stains and crap and the clothing was like a warehouse sale for REJECTED MERCHANDISE! AND...the NC Mall this store is NEW! How do you get that seedy with crap on floor in such a short time? :shrug:

That's what the latest MERGER or TAKEOVER has done to the MACY'S of "Miracle on 34th Street." It's looked like the "34 Street Riot!" NOTHING IS WHAT IT WAS! IT'S ALL CRAP!!!!

Disgusting!

[RavensChick]

32. It sure is crap

When Hecht's went out of business in the DC area not too long ago, I was heartbroken 'cause I loved the clothes, handbags, and accessories, and every Christmas was beautiful the way they decorated the stores. Since then, I don't even bother going to Macy's 'cause the clothes in my size were too u-g-l-y and the prices are outrageous! It's just not the same.

:(

[Manifestor_of_Light]

31. Sounds like an undertaker's convention.

Hell, in Texas, you don't even wear a black T-shirt between May and November, or you'll die!!

[KoKo]

33. Here in NC if you want to Look SUPER COOL...you wear Black T-Shirt...so you

look "Internet Friendly," "Facebook Friendly" and are part of the Kewl Insider Buyout Crowd...even if you are in your late 50's and 60's.

It's kind of disgusting. That BLACK T-Shirt means to me..you work for DynCorp..or Blackwater the Prison Folks and the Rape Iraqi's and Torture Crowd on our Taxdollars.

The Wall St. Groupies who used to wear the Black T-Shirt gave that up to go back to the Kudlow "Pinstripes Gangstah Suit" and the "greasted slick backed hair" from the late 90's.

Seems NONE OF US can get our Fashion Stuff in Sync these DAYS! :rofl:

[RavensChick]

34. Not as far as Macy's is concerned

At least I can go to Ashley Stewart or even Target with a better fashion sense.

[bbernardini]

35. Well, you know what they say about "once you go black..." nt

[borlis]

39. As a former Macy's employee,

we have had this black dress code since last fall when our beloved "Marshall Field's" became Macy's. All the former MF stores are now considered "Macy's North" division. Supposedly all the store managers in our division voted for this dress code. Our store manager is tired of the black and sorry she voted for it. THE EMPLOYEES ARE REALLY SICK AND TIRED OF WEARING BLACK. Some customers have told us they feel that way too. I am really sad they are taking this to other divisions. We have vendor specialists (I was one) where you get a clothing allowance from the vendor to wear their clothing. Customers want to see the latest fashions on the employees, right? Hard to do when you are dressing like you are going to a funeral every day.

[SoCalDem]

40. It's not fair to "help" the employess buy a new wardrobe

If Macy's wants them all to wear black, they need to PROVIDE the "uniform". Hourly wage part timers with no benefits work to put food on the table & pay rent.. they do not work so they can spend all their money on "new work clothes"