Macy’s flagship debuts millennial-specific floor

New York--Macy’s Inc. has unveiled its latest attempt to attract and keep young consumers: their own designated floor in the retailer’s flagship store in New York City. 

Opened last week in the basement level, the One Below floor is Macy’s millennial floor, designed specifically for juniors and totaling about 53,000 square feet, according to Women’s Wear Daily.

Macy’s, for its purposes, splits the millennial generation into two segments and created this floor for the younger millennials, those between the ages of 13 and 22, a group it targets specifically through its Mstylelab initiative.

The floor comes as part of the retailer’s $400 million, multi-year renovation project of the New York Herald Square store that began in early 2012 and is slated for completion in November.

Though the retailer did not provide more information about One Below to National Jeweler by press time, Tim Baxter, Macy’s chief merchandising officer, told WWD that the floor is “an entirely new experience that blends technology with fashion and food,” bringing together some of the retailer’s most popular juniors brands in apparel, beauty and accessories with aspects like wearable tech and 3-D printing.

For example, there is an area within the floor that sells Samsung’s wearable tech products and another part that sells 3-D printed jewelry and accessories. There’s also a place for them to build their own Fossil watches, get lessons in makeup application and take pictures with the One Below selfie camera.

But in order to be competitive and provide a space that these younger shoppers will want to visit, the retailer is making the product offering the center of its strategy, putting the strongest and most popular brands front and center.

They’re also embracing that tech is a central part of these shopper’s lives, providing free WiFi and outlets where they can relax, browse on their phones and literally recharge when needed.

The retailer said the new initiative will act as an “incubator” for other Macy’s stores across the country, taking the lessons they learn from this one and applying elsewhere.