What Were They Thinking?

C H A P T E R 24

Curbing the Urge to Merge

SO OFF I GO TO MACY’S to buy some sheets that have been advertised. Plotting carefully to be there when there is some remote chance I can get waited on, I arrive at 8:30 on a weeknight, expecting the store to be nearly empty. It is, but the absence of any customers other than me is insufficient to induce any of the three salespeople, busily talking among themselves, to wait on me. I am soon at Bed Bath & Beyond, where I am greeted at the door and receive all the help I need. In the many media discussions about what plagues department stores in general, and Macy’s in particular, I hear lots of talk about Wal-Mart, Target, and other discount competitors but almost no mention of the operational problems ...