“The renovation of Macy’s Herald Square is one of the most important, single-door renovations in the world,” said Lynne Greene, a group president of Lauder and global president of Clinique. The New York flagship is in the early stages of transforming its beauty department with the aim of turning it into one of the most potent selling floors in the world.
Alex Choueiri, general manager of the International Designer Fragrances Division at L’Oréal USA, said he was pleased after hearing the plans.
“It’s all going in the right direction in terms of being more upscale department store, less cluttered, more easy to navigate for the customers and giving a much more pleasant experience. It is going to become more of an area where you could browse without feeling in any way attacked by the crowds. The amazing thing in that store is the number of people who enter the store every day, the great traffic Macy’s has. All those customers are going to be having a much better experience. It is going to allow us to showcase some of our brands in a much more upscale and luxurious way, which is a very positive thing.”
The men’s and fragrance departments are the vanguard of what will be an enlarged 27,000-square-foot beauty department spanning the cavernous area between the two main escalator banks of the main floor. The new floor will be 4,500 square feet larger than its predecessor. The last time the beauty department was completely redone in one massive project was during the late Seventies and early Eighties.
As for the challenges ahead, one industry executive said Macy’s will have to prove itself in the luxury arena and he has no doubt the store will succeed. Another executive said, “There is an opportunity for them to drive basic business and to be less promotional.”
The entire beauty floor will not be done until November 1, but a revamped women’s fragrance department that runs along the 35th Street wall opened June 18 and a men’s department and a series of shops on the 34th Street side opened June 29.
