Research
Retail Consolidation: The Geographic Impacts of the Merger of Federated and May Department Stores
Consolidation in the retail sector continues to restructure corporations. While conventional wisdom suggests this process benefits both the shareholder and the consumer through economies of scale, the resulting impacts range from job losses and job category elimination to store closures and realignment of vendor relations. The 2005 merger of Federated and May Department Stores created the only mid-priced department store chain with a national footprint—a behemoth with revenue ten times that of its next largest like competitor. Using this merger as a case study, I employ archival materials, SEC filings, and annual reports to document and quantify the impacts on labor and land use. I discuss waning consumer and employee loyalty, analyze restructured vendor networks, and map changes to the American retail landscape. Understanding these impacts is essential as America’s manufacturing employment base continues to erode, and jobs shift into retail, thus necessitating a monitoring of the health and stability of the retail sector.
Key Words: retail consolidation, department store, shopping mall, retail sector, labor, May, Federated, Macy’s
Under construction
(Links to my proposal, map projects, and a powerpoint are forthcoming.)