Retail Roundup: 2 Macy's Backstage stores to open in August
The Macy's Backstage store at Roosevelt Field: Two new Macy's Backstage stores will open inside Macy's stores at Walt Whitman Shops and Smith Haven Mall on Aug. 10. Credit: Macy's
Macy’s Backstage will hit its 200th store in August, when the off-price concept will open inside two more Macy’s stores on Long Island.
The stores-within-stores will open at Walt Whitman Shops in Huntington Station and Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove on Aug. 10.
In March, I reported that 50 Backstage locations would open this year inside Macy’s stores, including at Roosevelt Field mall in Garden City in April and Smith Haven Mall in the spring. Cincinnati-based Macy’s Inc. isn’t saying why the opening of the Backstage at Smith Haven Mall has been delayed.
Macy’s Backstage sells name-brand clothing, shoes, accessories, housewares and makeup at 20 percent to 80 percent below traditional department store prices, Macy’s said.
“Our customers are excited about the Macy’s Backstage shopping experience,” Michelle Israel, Macy’s senior vice president of Off Price, said in a statement July 19. “Macy’s Backstage was designed to bring great deals and the fun of the hunt into our existing Long Island locations."
The Smith Haven location will be on Macy's third floor and occupy about 15,700 square feet or about 5 percent of the 325,933-square-foot store.
The Backstage at Walt Whitman will be on Macy's first level and take up about 21,400 square feet or 7 percent of the 306,806-square-foot store.
A clothing display at Macy's Backstage store at Roosevelt Field. Credit: Macy's
Macy’s launched Backstage in 2015 and had 55 locations as of April 2018. The concept has boosted sales for Macy’s at a time when department stores are struggling with competition from big-box stores and online retailers.
On average, Macy’s stores with Backstage locations have 5 percent more in sales, the chain said.
All but seven of the nearly 200 Backstage locations open now are inside Macy’s stores.
On Long Island, there are five Backstage locations — three inside Macy’s stores in Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, Westfield Sunrise Mall in Massapequa and Roosevelt Field mall in Garden City, and two separate stores, in Lake Success Shopping Center in New Hyde Park and Melville Mall.
Retail Roundup is a column about major retail news on Long Island — store openings, closings, expansions, acquisitions, etc. — that is published online and in the Monday paper. To read more of these columns, click here. If you have news to share, please send an email to Newsday reporter Tory N. Parrish at tory.parrish@newsday.com.
Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.
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