Macy's Parkchester – Bronx, New York - Atlas Obscura

Macy's Parkchester

 

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Everyone is familiar with the original Macy’s, which jumped between multiple locations before finally settling into its present day home on Herald Square in 1902. But did you know the second Macy’s location wasn’t so far away and, in fact, still stands today in the Bronx?

The very first branch store for Macy’s opened in the Parkchester neighborhood in 1941, aimed at shoppers in the Bronx, Queens and Westchester County. Parkchester, at the time, was a planned community developed by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company as affordable housing for middle-class white families (Black renters were explicitly excluded at the time, a policy that would later be reversed in 1968). 

The Parkchester Macy’s is 171,000 square feet and occupies the bottom floors of two apartment buildings near the south end of Parkchester. Compared to later locations the design and layout is rather utilitarian, indicative of the era in which it was founded, where the Macy’s was more of an all-purpose store than the high-end brand it portrays itself as today.

At over 80 years old, the Parkchester Macy’s is one of the oldest department stores in the country and continues to be popular within the community, making it unlikely to suffer the fate that has befallen so many other retailers over the past few decades.

Know Before You Go

Take the '6' train (local or express) to Parkchester and head north on Metropolitan Avenue. The Bx4A also runs past the store.

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