The Macy's Factor: Newspapers and Department Stores Once Thrived Together. Now?

In 1858, R.H. Macy, learning from his failed dry goods businesses in Massachusetts, opened R. H. Macy & Co. on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th streets in Manhattan. One year earlier, across the continent, the Sacramento Bee was born. One year later, Denver’s Rocky Mountain News started publishing. Within a decade, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the San Antonio Express-News each began rolling the presses.

It was a century-long marriage made in heaven, as start-up department stores and start-up newspapers fed each other, and both became wealthy.

Read more