Macy's Union Square (the location of the Macy's department store chain located on San Francisco's Union Square) is one of the retailer's largest and oldest locations, long the flagship of Macy's California, then Macy's West.
Macy's Union Square (the location of the Macy's department store chain located on San Francisco's Union Square) is one of the retailer's largest and oldest locations, long the flagship of Macy's California, then Macy's West.
Macy's San Francisco roots date back to 1866 and the founding of O'Connor, Moffat, Kean Co. at Second & Market Streets, eventually moving into several buildings on south Post Street, between Grant Avenue and Kearny Street, where it rebuilt after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and reopened in March 1909. [1]
In 1928, the company, by then known as O'Connor, Moffat & Co., commissioned Lewis P. Hobart to design a new eight-story store building at 101 Stockton Street at the northwest corner of O'Farrell Street, with a projected cost of $3,400,000 ($59.6 million in 2023).
The new 244,000 sq ft (22,700 m2) O'Connor, Moffatt & Co. store opened to the public on March 4, 1929, [2] clad in cream-colored terra-cotta that incorporated Neo-Gothic details, especially at the top of its façades. [3]
R.H. Macy & Company, New York, New York acquired O'Connor Moffat in 1945 [4] for a reported $2,175,000 in stock. [5] On October 16, 1947, the store was rebranded as Macy's. [6]
When announcing the merger, Macy's also announced the purchase of the six-story Brickell Building with 55 ft (17 m) of frontage on Geary Street facing Union Square, and took possession on January 1, 1946. At the time it was home to the Santa Fe Railroad ticket office (235 Geary) and the Frank More shoe store (233 Geary). [5] A corridor gave access to Macy's from Union Square. [3]
Macy's followed up with a major expansion of the store, incorporating 170 O'Farrell Street to the west, in 1948, commissioning the original architect of the 1928 building, Louis Parson Hobart. [7]
The new addition, costing a reported $6,500,000 (($82.4 million in 2023) opened in September 1949, matched the façades of the older store, except at the parapet, where the florid Gothic detail was not replicated. A polished-granite first floor united both new and old parts of the store. In the interior, the 1949 remodeling kept the original square fluted columns, but a drop ceiling and "modern" lighting obscured the elaborate gothic tracery of the older store's street-floor ceiling. [3]
In 1955, the Brickell Building was refurbished, after which Macy's customers could enter the store through the Blum's Confectionery, [3] a candy store that incorporated a café serving desserts and light meals.
Macy's acquired the 76,000-square-foot (7,100 m2) Dohrmann's home furnishings store, demolished it in 1967 and constructed a building on the site that was added to the main store. [8] The new front incorporated a clock tower worked into the façade design. [3]
Eventually the front of the Brickell Building was also redone so that it matched the 1968 addition on the Dohrmann's site. The floor elevation of the 1968 addition did not align with the main (1929/1948) building, so escalators at the street floor of the Union Square buildings connected down to the main floor and up to the second floor of the older portion of the store. [3]
in 1976, Macy's bought the 40,000 sq ft (3,700 m2) building at 255 Geary, [9] for decades, home to Frank Werner shoes, sold in 1952 to Bally of Switzerland. [10]
In 1984, Macy's opened a separate 180,000 sq ft (17,000 m2) separate Men's Store in a building across Stockton Street from its Main Store. The building at 100-120 Stockton Street was built in 1974 and previously a branch of the Hawaii-based Liberty House (department store), [11] bringing the total area of the complex to 860,000 sq ft (80,000 m2).
In 1995, Federated Department Stores (now Macy's, Inc.), which owned both Macy's and I. Magnin specialty department stores, closed the I. Magnin chain. Macy's 1929/1948 building and its Union Square-facing buildings formed an "L" shape surrounding the I. Magnin Union Square store at the southwest corner of Stockton and Geary streets, built in 1946. In 1995, Federated decided to incorporate the 240,000 sq ft (22,000 m2) building as part of Macy's Union Square, which meant that Macy's then occupied the entire block facing Stockton street from O'Farrell Street on the south to Geary Street and Union Square on the north.
The entire complex including the Men's Store thus reached its peak size of approximately 1,100,000 sq ft (100,000 m2), one of the largest department store locations in the world at that time. This was at a time when most other downtown flagship stores in large U.S. cities other than New York and Chicago had already closed, such as May Co. in Los Angeles (1986), Bullock's and J.W. Robinson's in Los Angeles (1983), Rich's in Atlanta (1994), May Co. in Cleveland (1993), and Hudson's in Detroit (1983). Even Macy's Union Square's own local rival Emporium would close its flagship the next year, in 1996.
In the late 1990s Macy's began a multi-year project to rehabilitate the entire complex, remodeling of the 1929/1948 building and the Men's Store; expanding into the upper floors of the Magnin's building, and razing and replacing the two out-of-date buildings on Geary Street facing Union Square (on the Brickell and Dohrmann's sites), giving the store its current signature glass-fronted entry from the Square.
In 2018, Macy's proceeded to sell both of its most recent additions: the former Magnin's building that had been incorporated into the main complex, and the separate Men's Store (former Liberty House) building. The complex, now reduced back to its pre-1984 size, still boasts about 700,000 sq ft (65,000 m2) of retail space. [12]
On February 27, 2024, it was announced that Macy's be closing this location as part of a plan to close 150 stores nationwide by the end of 2026. Macy's stated that the location would remain open until the property would be sold to a new owner. More than 400 employees will be impacted as part of the closure. [13]
| Opened/ Added | Sold | Building | Address | Area added sq ft | Total area sq ft | Total area sq m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1929 | open | O'Connor, Moffat & Co. building (Macy's Main Building) | 101 Stockton corrner of O'Farrell | 244,000 | 244,000 | 22,700 |
| 1948 | open | Addition to main store, west along O'Farrell plus Brickell Building on Geary | 160‑170 O'Farrell, 233-235 Geary | 244,000 (approx.) [14] | 488,000 (approx.) | 45,300 (approx.) |
| 1967 | open | Dohrmann's building (76,000 sq ft (76,000 sq ft)) razed; new building on its site added to Macy's main store. | 281 Geary on Union Square | 640,000 [15] | 59,000 | |
| 1976 | open | Bought and expanded into former Frank Werner/Bally Building [9] | 255 Geary on Union Square | 40,000 | 680,000 [11] | 63,000 |
| Sep 30, 1984 | Sep 20, 2017 [16] | Separate Men's Store in the old Liberty House store [11] | 100-120 Stockton | 180,000 [11] | 860,000 | 80,000 |
| 1995* [17] | 2018* [12] | Expansion into former I. Magnin Building [17] | 135 Stockton corner of Geary on Union Square | 240,000 [12] | 1,100,000 | 100,000 |
| 1998 | 2024 [18] | Reconstruction of 1967/1976 bldgs. on Union Square (263,640 sq ft) [19] | (235)-255-281 Geary on Union Square | ca. 1,100,000 | ca. 100,000 | |
| Total current floor area of complex after closing of ex-Magnin and Men's buildings: 700,000 sq ft (65,000 m2) | ||||||
*announced
Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain founded in 1861 by Benjamin and Lyman Bloomingdale. It was acquired by Federated Department Stores in 1930, which acquired the Macy’s department store chain in 1994, when they became sister brands. Ultimately, Federated itself was renamed Macy’s, Inc. in 2007.
Fashion Island is an outdoor regional shopping mall in Newport Beach, California. Opened in 1967 by The Irvine Company as the anchor to their master-planned Newport Center district, Fashion Island is anchored by Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstrom.
Union Square is a 2.6-acre (1.1-hectare) public plaza bordered by Geary, Powell, Post, and Stockton Streets in downtown San Francisco, California. "Union Square" also refers to the central shopping, hotel, and theater district that surrounds the plaza for several blocks. The area got its name because it was once used for Thomas Starr King rallies and support for the Union Army during the American Civil War, earning its designation as a California Historical Landmark. Despite its declining profile, Union Square in San Francisco is still a major retail hub for the city and the Bay Area.
The Biltmore Fashion Park is an outdoor retail and dining mall located in the Biltmore District of Phoenix, Arizona, along East Camelback Rd. The Biltmore Fashion Park, as well as the surrounding business and residential district, is named after the historic Arizona Biltmore Hotel nearby.
Liberty House, headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, was a department store and specialty store chain with locations throughout the Hawaiian Islands and on Guam, as well as several locations on the United States mainland.
Westfield Valley Fair, commonly known as Valley Fair, is a prominent shopping mall in San Jose, California. Valley Fair is the largest mall, by area, in Northern California and has higher sales revenue than all other malls in California, including the two in Southern California which have larger area than Valley Fair. Valley Fair is the thirteenth largest shopping mall in the United States. It is located on Stevens Creek Boulevard in West San Jose. The mall features Macy's, Macy's Men's and Home Store, Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's.
J. W. Robinson Co., Robinson's, was a chain of department stores operating in the Southern California and Arizona area, previously with headquarters in Los Angeles, California.
Bullock's was a chain of full-line department stores from 1907 through 1995, headquartered in Los Angeles, growing to operate across California, Arizona and Nevada. Bullock's also operated as many as seven more upscale Bullocks Wilshire specialty department stores across Southern California. Many former Bullock's locations continue to operate today as Macy's.
I. Magnin & Company was a San Francisco, California-based high fashion and specialty goods luxury department store. Over the course of its existence, it expanded across the West into Southern California and the adjoining states of Arizona, Oregon, and Washington. In the 1970s, under Federated Department Stores ownership, the chain entered the Chicago, Illinois, and Washington, DC, metropolitan areas. Mary Ann Magnin founded the company in 1876 and named the chain after her husband Isaac.
The Emporium, from 1980 to 1995 Emporium-Capwell, was a mid-line department store chain headquartered in San Francisco, California, which operated for 100 years—from 1896 to 1996. The flagship location on San Francisco's Market Street was a destination shopping location for decades, and several branch stores operated in the various suburbs of the Bay Area. The Emporium and its sister department store chains were acquired by Federated Department Stores in 1995, and many converted to Macy's locations.
Fashion Valley is an upscale, open-air shopping mall in Mission Valley in San Diego, California. The shopping center has 1,720,533 sq ft (159,842.7 m2) of leasable floor area, making it the largest mall in San Diego and one of the largest in California. It is managed by the 50% owner Simon Property Group.
The City of Paris Dry Goods Company was one of San Francisco's important department stores from 1850 to 1976, located diagonally opposite Union Square. In the mid-20th century, it opened a few branches in other cities of the Bay Area. The main San Francisco store was demolished in 1980 after a lengthy preservation fight to build a new Neiman Marcus, but the store's original rotunda and glass dome were preserved and incorporated into the new design.
The Joseph Magnin Company was a high-end specialty department store founded in San Francisco, California, by Joseph Magnin, 4th son of Isaac Magnin founder of the I. Magnin department store. Joseph Magnin Co. and I. Magnin Co. were rivals.
Broadway Plaza is an outdoor shopping mall located in downtown Walnut Creek. The shopping center opened on October 11, 1951 and is owned and operated by Macerich. The mall is anchored by Nordstrom and Macy's, and features nearly 80 stores including Crate & Barrel, flagship H&M and ZARA stores, a standalone Apple store with an adjoining outdoor plaza, an Industrious co-working space, a planned Pinstripes entertainment center and restaurant, and a planned Life Time Fitness sports club.
Union Square/Market Street station is an underground Muni Metro light rail station located adjacent to the southeast corner of Union Square in San Francisco, California. It opened on November 19, 2022, as part of the Central Subway project. It is the penultimate northbound station on the T Third Street, since T service moved to the Central Subway on January 7, 2023.
Hale Brothers Department Store, was a department store headquartered in Sacramento, California, with branches throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
Bayfair Center is a regional shopping mall and power center in San Leandro, California. It was among the first malls in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. Anchor stores are Macy's, Target, Kohl's, Staples, Old Navy, PetSmart, Cinemark, and 24 Hour Fitness.
Parmelee-Dohrmann was a Los Angeles–based chain of stores that sold fine china, crystal, glassware, silver, and objects of art.
Retail in Southern California dates back to its first dry goods store that Jonathan Temple opened in 1827 on Calle Principal, when Los Angeles was still a Mexican village. After the American conquest, as the pueblo grew into a small town surpassing 4,000 population in 1860, dry goods stores continued to open, including the forerunners of what would be local chains. Larger retailers moved progressively further south to the 1880s-1890s Central Business District, which was later razed to become the Civic Center. Starting in the mid-1890s, major stores moved ever southward, first onto Broadway around 3rd, then starting in 1905 to Broadway between 4th and 9th, then starting in 1915 westward onto West Seventh Street up to Figueroa. For half a century Broadway and Seventh streets together formed one of America's largest and busiest downtown shopping districts.
Carmel Plaza is a 111,980 sq ft (10,403 m2) self-described "upscale, outdoor lifestyle shopping center" in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California in the block bounded by Ocean, Junipero, Mission and 7th streets. It is currently anchored by Anthropologie and is home to luxury goods retailers such as Tiffany. Three stories of shops surround an open-air courtyard.