More good news!!!

The announcement by FAO Schwarz that they will be opening toy departments in 275 Macy’s stores is the best news toy nation has had in a long, long time. This is particularly good news for specialty toy manufacturers as it will give them not only additional revenues but dramatically expanded visibility for their brands.

As good as the news is for toy nation it is even better for the department store industry (whatever is left of it). I have long believed that one could trace the downward trend in the department store business from their short sighted decisions to terminate their toy departments. It may have made some sense on a department profitability level but it permanently changed their customer demographic from families shopping together and for each other to mature females shopping alone and for themselves.

More importantly, with the decision to do away with the toy departments, these stores ended their position as the retail and community center for Christmas. To grasp the key role department stores used to play during the Christmas season, watch the movie “A Christmas Story.” The Christmas parade, the scenes with the store Santa Claus and the big crowds are not just an evocative but entirely realistic look at what Christmas shopping used to be like and the central role department stores played in the holiday.

Not that long ago, every town of any size had its own department store where the “real” Santa resided. In fact, if you had two department stores in your town it would provoke debates over who had the better Santa.  Well as far as this blogger is concerned, the real Santa Claus now resides in Macy’s.