The May stores will become a division of Federated creating a conglomerate of almost 1,000 department stores and nearly $30 billion in annual sales.
Federated has plans to develop and market a national brand to compete with both the discount and upscale competitors. Part of this strategy includes converting Macy's brand over to the Federated national brand.
"As we have stated before, the combined company will be an exciting organization - a fashion retailer with about $30 billion in sales and truly national scope and presence," Terry J. Lundgren, Federated's chairman, president and chief executive officer, told the annual meeting. "The road ahead for Federated is very exciting and presents us with an opportunity to transform our industry in a way that will benefit customers from coast to coast."
The May Department Stores Company currently operates 490 department stores under the names of Famous-Barr, Filene's, Foley's, Hecht's, Kaufmann's, Lord & Taylor, L.S. Ayres, Marshall Field's, Meier & Frank, Robinsons-May, Strawbridge's, and The Jones Store, as well as 241 David's Bridal stores, 450 After Hours Formalwear stores, and 11 Priscilla of Boston stores in its Bridal Group. May operates in 46 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
Federated operates more than 450 stores in 34 states, Guam and Puerto Rico. Prior to March 6, 2005, the stores were operated under the names Bloomingdale's,Bon-Macy's, Burdines-Macy's,'Goldsmith's-Macy's, Lazarus-Macy's, Macy's and Rich's-Macy's.
Pursuant to a broad national strategy announced by the Company in September 2004 to more fully leverage its Macy's brand, the stores operating under the names Bon-Macy's, Burdines-Macy's, Goldsmith's-Macy's, Lazarus-Macy's and Rich's-Macy's were renamed effective March 6, 2005, to become "Macy's" stores.
If all goes as planned the merger of Federated and Macy's stores should be complete by the holiday season.
Future store closures as a result of the merger have not been announced at this time.