Product Description

Born into a seafaring family on Nantucket, Rowland H. Macy took only one voyage on a whale-ship before turning his back on the sea. Entering business instead, he saw four failures before launching the store that revolutionized the world of shopping. R.H. Macy's New York shop became the model for the modern department store-by his death in 1878 Macy's was recording sales of over $1 million a year. R.H. MACY: MERCHANT PRINCE presents the complete story of this retail pioneer and traces the empire that formed around his name. Witness rare photographs and expert commentary, take a tour of the flagship Macy's, and learn how the Straus family took over the business after Macy's death and transformed it into the world's largest single store. Join BIOGRAPHY® for the definitive portrait of R.H. Macy, entrepreneur, visionary, and founding father of the department store. DVD Features: Interactive Menus; Scene Selection

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32191 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-12-27
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 50 minutes

Customer Reviews

Successful Store Founder
This documentary shows that Macy tried several ventures before succeeding with his NYC store. He even failed at some ventures. A surprising thing is that his death is covered 3/4s into the work. What makes his store famous came after he was gone.

Macy hired a woman to hold an important position in his company years before we had sex-based anti-discrimination laws. Like Frederick Douglass and Saint Patrick, I can add him to the list of men pre-1960s who can be deemed pro-feminist.

This movie had no cheesy reenactments, though Macy lived before film. There are countless photos shown here. The narrator's script was redundant at times. It was funny to hear anachronistic financial amounts. For example, the narrator states, "Macy earned a whopping $3,000 during his years in California."

There is a Titanic-related fact in this work. Fans of that tragedy may really value hearing about it.

This was a decent documentary, but it was a bit dull as Macy's isn't extremely famous. It is easier to watch pieces on Marie Antoinette, JFK, or Cleopatra, rather than this guy. As a Chicagoan who is hearing talking heads in this city bemoan that Field's was bought by Macy's, I see that the work is timely, however.