Here’s a cool chart from Bloomberg that shows the national consolidation of department stores into just two main brands, Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s. The Midwestern department store brands are in green, and among them at the bottom (marked with the yellow arrow) you’ll find Minneapolis legend, Dayton’s.
Check it out:
(Bonus: there’s another chart showing the number of department stores through time.)
The accompanying article mentions how real estate is playing a part in the company’s strategy, including the former downtown Minneapolis store:
Some of the well-situated stores are being “monetized,” which is Wall Street jargon for “sold off for cash.” The company got rid of its downtown Minneapolis flagship for $59 million in March. One hundred years ago the store was a Dayton’s, then it became a Marshall Field’s, and since 2006 it had been a Macy’s. Soon it will be offices. The men’s store in San Francisco’s Union Square went for $250 million. In an irony lost on no one, Amazon.com is leasing the top six floors of the Macy’s building in Seattle, while Macy’s keeps the ground floor and basement. The company wants to make similar arrangements for its downtown Chicago store, though maybe with a different tenant.
Whatever happens to Macy’s, it’s interesting to see the evolution of department store and Dayton’s place within it.