There’s a saying, “A picture is worth 1,000 words”. It’s true. My sister visited us over the week after Christmas. She’s an avid Macy’s fan. When my mum told her that Neal and I went to the Macy’s in New York City, her response was, “They went to the Vatican?”. Anyway, she’s stationed near Tuscon and there isn’t a Macy’s nearby. Neal took her shopping across the street at Easton Towne Center while she was here and the photo in this post was taken with his cell phone in Macy’s.  This would be a wall display.  The photo doesn’t show the empty bars above it on the wall but you can see the clothes on the floor.

Macy’s is supposed to be an upscale retailer.  Can I please get a show of hands?  How many of you are willing to pay upscale prices for merchandise that’s been sitting on the floor.  It’s sad to see retailers with a long tradition of customer focus such as Lazarus and Marshall Fields reduced to this.

There’s a bit of history to this tale too.  About a week before Christmas, Neal went into Macy’s early in the morning.  He saw this type of mess throughout the store and a group of employees standing around talking.  Several times between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we had to go on the great employee hunt to pay for purchases we wanted to make.  Neal complained and one of the assistant managers called him and <drum roll, please> made excuses.  The store was a mess because of the holidays.  Neal didn’t buy that story after seeing so many people standing around and complained to their corporate.  The general manager called and gave him the same story.

When I saw this photo and heard about this from my sister, I wrote a complaint at the Macy’s web site.  The next day, a member of the local executive team called me and made the same excuses.  The holidays trashed the store and so on.  He offered to send us a gift card to shop the next week when the store would be up to standards.

Well I did receive the “card”.  It was actually a coupon for $25 off a purchase of $25 or more.  It was wrapped in a blank piece of Macy’s stationery.  That’s right–blank.  No letter.  No note.  Just a blank piece of paper.  We went to shop and found the store looked just as bad as it always does.  We ended up not using the coupon and left the store in disgust.

Some might think Neal and I are being unreasonable but Neal’s been a Macy’s card holder for a number of years and we have spent a lot of money there.  The service at the Easton store is terrible.  You can never find an employee, stuff is always on the floor and when you do find an employee, there’s a group of them standing around doing nothing.  I’d also like to mention that both of us have been retail managers in the past, so the whole “holidays are too busy” argument just doesn’t wash with us.  As retail management veterans of a number of holiday seasons, we know that it is possible to keep your store fresh looking and presentable while still giving customers good service.

Sorry Macy’s or should I say Messy’s, no more excuses.