Lead and Succeed by Example

Dear Mr. R.H. Macy

“Miracle on 34th Street” is a wonderful holiday movie that features your landmark department store’s annual Thanksgiving Day parade, and teaches a cynical young girl the concepts of good feelings and believing. It is my favorite Christmas movie to watch with my young daughters, and has always given me a warm feeling toward your store.

I own a boutique chocolate manufacture and retail shop in Massachusetts. During the 2009 holiday season, I noted as retailers across the country scrambled to drive sales through discounts, that Macy’s, America’s largest retail chain, did something different. You connected with shoppers emotionally by creating “Yes, Virginia,” a 30-minute animated network special. The story was inspired by the little girl named Virginia O’Hanlon  who, in 1897, wrote the editor of the New York Sun newspaper, asking if Santa Claus was real. The response she received asserting “Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” has lived on ever since in the public’s imagination. It was helped along in our time by the television show, which transformed Virginia into a Macy’s icon, a holiday entertainment brand. How clever! You bypassed other retailers competing for our attention by seamlessly establishing Virginia as part of our holiday culture. From a larger-than-life debut in one of America’s favorite holiday events, to the windows of Manhattan, to a television appearance, Virginia became a recognizable holiday brand in a very short time. This effort was a tremendous example of retail branding and leadership, exploiting what makes Macy’s special at the holiday season, and demonstrating how it stands head and shoulders above the competition.

Mr. Macy, I am asking you to be a retail leader once again. In Massachusetts, our blue laws prohibit stores from opening on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. However, our friends over the border and in other parts of the country do not have the same law, and must depend on the willingness of their employers to keep Thanksgiving as a holiday reserved for families and friends.

As a small business owner I understand the pressure retailers face as it is my family’s livelihood. Retailers rely on fourth quarter sales, and they also rely on their customers and employees in order to stay in business. I am asking you, on behalf of retailers, employees, and customers, please set yourself apart from the others and keep your stores closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Please consider how what is gained in sales is costing us time with family and friends. We all know that once this time is lost, it can never be regained.

You can set the precedent. You can be the major retailer that values family time over profits, the holiday that brings us all together to watch a remarkable parade, eat a great meal, and give thanks for all this country has given us. And then we can all say, “Yes, Mr. Macy, there is a Thanksgiving.”

Sincerely,

Erin Calvo-Bacci, Owner, The Chocolate Truffle, Reading, Massachusetts, Bacci Chocolate Design, Swampscott, Massachusetts