Macy’s Backstage Opens For Business On Emmons Avenue
Customers poured into Brooklyn’s first Macy’s Backstage at the Loehmann’s Seaport Plaza — one of six pilot locations opening this fall for the company’s new discount stores — immediately after a Wednesday morning ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“Welcome to Backstage,” Peter Sachse, Macy’s chief for innovation and business development, announced before the ribbon cutting. “We at Macy’s have been hanging around the New York area for about 157 years. But today is a new chapter in that long history of Macy’s and it’s a chapter that starts right here in Sheepshead Bay with Backstage.”
Earlier this year, Macy’s announced it was entering the “off-price” retail market to compete against companies like T.J. Maxx, Ross and a Nordstrom Rack. The Sheepshead Bay location, located at 2027 Emmons Avenue, was stocked on opening day with shoes, clothing, home accessories, luggage, jewelry, a Sunglass Hut outpost, and a Fur Salon. The Emmons Avenue store will also be the only pilot location with a cafe, which is still under construction.
Midwood resident Bonnie Marx said she waited for more than an hour to enter the store at the front of a line that extended almost down to East 21st Street. She said the location was much easier to reach than Kings Plaza, where she currently shops, and she was considering buying a dress for a Labor Day weekend party.
“I want to see if their prices are as low as they say they are,” she said. “I’m looking for fashionable items at a low price.”
Vanessa LeFebvre, senior vice president for Macy’s Backstage, said that the company scoured markets to “find amazing value for our customers.” She explained the company would be asking customers at the pilot location for feedback about whether the store was selling desirable products.
The 28,000-square-foot space on Emmons Avenue was formerly occupied by Loehmann’s, the clothing retailer that closed in early 2014 after its parent company went bankrupt. The building has a special variance, according to the Board of Standards and Appeals, allowing the property to bypass the area’s zoning laws that normally restrict business to “waterfront and tourist-related activities.”
State Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz, who assisted with the ribbon-cutting, said the Macy’s opening was an important milestone in the neighborhood’s Sandy recovery effort. During the ceremony, he thanked Macy’s for choosing Sheepshead Bay as the location for its Brooklyn store.
“Almost three years ago, we were really hurt by Superstorm Sandy. This particular area was flooded and so many of our businesses were hurt by the storm,” he said. “By coming to Sheepshead Bay, you are showing your confidence in our community.”