On January 29, a final blowout door buster we're-history-clearance-sale will begin at both stores until there is nothing left but racks, shelves and memories. Federated Department Stores, which owns the Macy's brand, bought May Department Stores, which owns the Robinson's-May brand. Federated plans to convert most Robinsons-May stores to Macy's stores, including the one in Fashion Island, except the one in South Coast Plaza will become a Bloomingdale's, which is also owned by Federated. Simple, no?
If you think that's complicated, you should see where all these names come from. Pay attention; this is a lot of names.
Things were a little slow in Orange County in 1838, but in Paris that year, a man named Aristide Boucicaut, who was French, opened a store called Bon Marche, which would evolve into the world's first true department store.
On this side of the pond, a man named Alexander Stewart opened the Marble Palace on Chambers Street in lower Manhattan in 1848, followed by the large and luxurious Cast Iron Palace on Broadway and 9th Street in 1862. The Cast Iron Palace wasn't just fancy. It was fancy-schmancy, with eight floors and 2,000 employees, and catered to women of means, with an eye toward European clothing and accessories.
The history buffs out there know that Mary Todd Lincoln was the original compulsive shopper -- among other, more serious problems -- and ran up a bill for $27,000 at the Cast Iron Palace in 1865, which her husband Abraham had no ability to pay and with which the press had the proverbial field day.
