Macy’s becomes style in department stores

Famous-Barr, the department store at 201 N. Stadium Blvd., officially changed its name Saturday to Macy’s, along with more than 300 other stores across the Midwest.

“What it entails is basically we become Macy’s department store,” said Sue Johnson, general store manager at Macy’s Biscayne Commons in Columbia. “Our associates are so excited — they’re all excited about the name change.”

The roughly 150 employees at the Columbia store will remain the same as before the name change, Johnson said.

The name change has been in the works for almost a year and a half, ever since Federated Department Stores bought out the May Department Stores in the summer of 2005. The Columbia store changed its sign Friday.

“We are switching over some things,” Johnson said about the store’s interior. “But as a customer, you will mainly see a change in the merchandise.”

These changes include the addition of Macy’s proprietary brands, as well as the male and female clothing brands Club Room and Charter Club, the children’s clothing brand Green Dog and dining-oriented brand The Cellar. The private Famous-Barr brands will be gone.

Johnson said the name change across the Midwest brings the total number of Macy’s stores to about 800.